A Christmas Reunion
by Angelfan15
Summary: Buffy Summers is reunited with her friends and family for Christmas after several years, the trip turns out completely different than she expected. AU
1. City Girl

Title: A Christmas Reunion

By Angelfan15

Disclaimer: I own nothing! Their relationship would have turned out so different if they were mine.

Pairing: Buffy/Angel, Willow/Oz, Joyce/Giles

Distribution: Let me know where it's going!

Spoilers: This is completely AU

Rating: PG

Summary: Buffy Summers is reunited with her friends and family for Christmas after several years, the trip turns out completely different than she expected…

A/N: I know it's a few days after Christmas now but I have been working on this fic and wanted to post it anyway. I have four chapters written right now. I haven't given up on my other fics either, I have just been insanely busy since I started business school.

Chapter 1: City Girl

Buffy Summers tapped her pencil on her desk and pursed her lips before reaching up to gather her long blonde hair together and placing a hair tie around it. Dropping her hands in defeat she let out a sigh and stood up from her chair. She had to get at least one more chapter written in her book before she needed to get on a plane and fly all the way to sunny California to spend Christmas with her parents and Grandma. She was excited to see her father who she hadn't seen in person in several years. But she had a falling out with her mother when she told her mother she was moving to New York for college. Her mother thought she was making a huge mistake going to fashion school in New York City. Buffy always loved fashion and she felt going to school for fashion was the logical thing to do. Simply put, her mother was right and she was wrong. Again. After spending 4 long years at the Fashion Institute of Technology, which she worked extremely hard to even get into college with the help of her best friend Willow Rosenberg, she graduated but ended up writing her first children's books. Writing a children's book was a surprise to everyone. It's not like Buffy didn't like kids, she just didn't have any or know very many people who had kids. Her best friend from high school, Willow had a daughter with her husband and high school sweetheart Oz. Buffy had only met Olivia a few times when Willow and Oz flew to New York City to visit a certain blonde high school friend. Buffy loved spending time with Olivia when she had been around her. Maybe she could spend time with Willow and her little family while she was home for the holidays. That also meant she would have to listen to Willow talking about how important it is for Buffy to make up with her mother. It's not that she didn't want to make up with her mother, her mother just kept rubbing it in her face that spending 4 years and $19,000 on a degree that she doesn't even use was a waste.

Buffy looked up when she heard the door to her small New York City apartment open. "Hey, girl!" Her friend Amy Madison greeted her. Amy had been Buffy's friend in high school but Amy's parents had divorced and she had moved out of state with her dad before they graduated. Thanks to Facebook the two reconnected and became close. Amy had moved to the City a few years after Buffy and was working as a bartender. "I come bearing caffeine!"

Getting up from her desk Buffy walked over to her strawberry blonde friend, reaching out for the coffee. "Thank you! It is much needed!"

Amy nodded as she took a sip of her own coffee. "I can't believe you are leaving me in this big city all by myself for the holidays."

"You will survive!" Buffy laughed, going back over to her desk. This chapter wasn't going to write itself and she needed to send it to her editor before she left for Sunnydale. If she couldn't spend a lot of time with Willow then maybe she could hide out and write her book. "I'm just not sure the big city will."

"What surprises me even more is that you are actually going HOME to Sunnydale." Amy raised her eyebrows at her friend ignoring Buffy's comment. "You do know your mom is there right?"

Buffy laughed and shook her head. "I am fully aware."

"Even if I do survive you being gone…" Amy said seriously. "…I don't know if you will. Your mom is going to drive you insane!"

"Something else I am aware of." Buffy pouted. "Speaking of, I need to start packing."

Amy looked surprised. "You haven't even started packing?"

The blonde shrugged. "I have been writing…"

"But your chapter isn't even done!" Amy cut her off. "You need to get writing! I need to find out what happens with the character you based off me!"

"I killed her off." Buffy replied seriously. "You would know that if you read the last book."

"You killed…" Amy looked shocked then glared at her friend. "You're lying, you are such a bitch!"

Buffy laughed. "Or as your crush Xander would say- bitca."

"I have NEVER had a crush on Xander Harris!" Amy stomped her foot and huffed. "Go back to writing children's books!"

"I might have another kid's book or two left in here." Buffy smirked at her friends attempt at an insult and tapped her head. "I'm sure I will see Xander while I'm in Sunnydale, would you like me to pass a love note to him?"

Amy shook her head, there was a time when she might have had a slight crush on Buffy's male best friend but that time was long passed. She was in a relationship now with a great guy she met at the hot dog cart while getting lunch in Manhattan. "Are you sure you HAVE to go? I'm really REALLY going to miss you, Buff."

Buffy nodded. "It's mostly for my Grandma, ya know?"

Amy nodded back. Buffy's parents, mostly her dad, had asked her to go home for Christmas every year and she would always find a reason not to go. This year her Grandma had fallen and hurt herself, Buffy didn't go into full detail and she didn't push for more information. She knew how close Buffy was with her Grandma and it was important for her to go back home to see her. "Does your Grandma still have that bakery?" Amy asked.

Anne Jenkins owned the best bakery in Sunnydale, okay so it was the only bakery in Sunnydale but it was still the best cookies, cakes and pies anyone in the small town had ever had! The bakery had been there for as long as most people could remember. When Buffy's parents thought Los Angeles wasn't a good place for their daughter to live because she had gotten mixed up with the wrong crowd the whole Summers family decided they needed to move. Buffy wasn't happy about leaving all her friends, so her parents allowed her to pick where they moved. It didn't take Buffy very long to tell her parents she wanted to live closer to her Grandma. Which meant the family would have to leave their city lives to settle down in the small town Anne had moved to once all her children had left home. Buffy had started helping out at the bakery as soon as she moved to Sunnydale and it became one of the popular hang outs for Buffy and her friends.

"Yeah!" Buffy answered then paused. "Well, it's closed right now until she gets back on her feet."

"Oh wow." Amy was surprised. "I didn't think that bakery closed for even a day since she opened it."

Buffy nodded. "As far as I know, she has never closed. She just needs a little time to get better and the doors will reopen."

"They better!" Amy exclaimed. "I mean, I really want your Grandma to feel better but I also want some of her famous chocolate chip cookies!"

Buffy gave her friend a small smile. "I will see what I can do." Standing back up the blonde started to pack up her notebook, pencils and laptop to begin packing. If she forgot anything on this trip it wasn't going to be her work!

0o0o0

As soon as Buffy placed her baggage on the scale at the airport she felt as if she had over packed. She paid for the extra luggage, grabbed her carryon bag and laptop then looked at her ticket to make sure she remembered her gate number. She felt her phone vibrate, taking her phone out, she smiled when she saw a text message from Willow. In typical Willow form the red head was just checking once again that Buffy was still coming. As she was texting her friend back she was pushed, dropping her cell phone and laptop bag onto the airport floor.

"I am so sorry." A dark haired man apologized, reaching down to help Buffy pick up her belongings. "I'm just late for my flight and I don't want to miss it."

Quickly readjusting her carryon bag, Buffy shook her head. "It's fine. You better get going." The blonde watched the dark haired man run to his gate, silently thanking her dad for convincing her to get to the airport early. It was way too early for her but she had a long flight ahead of her and she would try to sleep. As she passed a restaurant her stomach started to growl so she doubled back and decided to get some breakfast before her flight.

After finishing her breakfast she made her way to her gate, she still had a little while to wait before she could board. Finding a place to sit down she decided to check her laptop to make sure nothing had happened to it when it hit the ground earlier when the man had ran into her. If it was broke she would have to buy a new one, which she really didn't want to have to do. On the plus side, it was a good thing she was old school and wrote everything down by hand. She even kept a notebook in her purse just in case inspiration hit, she would be able to write it down before forgetting it. She checked the screen of her laptop, relieved that it looked fine she decided to turn it on just to make sure nothing was wrong internally. Before she could turn it on someone plopped down in the chair beside her, breathing heavy. She looked over to find the very same dark haired man that had ran into her. Surprised, Buffy turned slightly towards him. "Going to miss your flight, huh?"

The man turned to face her fully and Buffy noticed he was fairly attractive with his dark hair and brown eyes. She definitely had a type. "I missed my flight." He replied "They gave me this flight instead. Are you going to Los Angeles too?"

Buffy nodded, not wanting to tell the man that Los Angeles was just a layover. She was still thinking if she wanted to fly to Sunnydale or drive once the plane landed. "Christmas and all."

"Right…" The dark haired man smiled. "Do you have family there?"

Buffy nodded again as she readjusted herself in her chair to get more comfortable and watched the man pull out a bottle of water. "I grew up there."

"Nice." He smiled then took a drink. "My dad is living there, he moved there a few years ago because of work. This flight is what? 6 and a half hours?"

Buffy took a deep breath, why did it have to take so long to get there? She was happy she paid the extra $200 for a non-stop flight or it would have been 18 hours! "That's what my ticket says."

"I'm sorry again about earlier." He apologized again. "I just didn't want to miss my flight."

"Which you ended up missing anyway." Buffy teased him.

The man nodded. "But its okay before this flight is better."

"Oh?" She asked. "And why is that?"

"Well, it's non-stop for starters. That's definitely better." He told her, then smiled. "And it has you."

"Oh! Smooth!" She laughed, then held her hand out for him to take. "I'm Buffy."

"Ford."


	2. Sunnydale

Thank you for the reviews! I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.

Chapter 2: Sunnydale

The excited red head bounced up and down as she waited for her friend to get off the plane at the Sunnydale Airport. She squeaked in excitement when she saw Buffy, she started to run towards her friend but the blonde pointed at her to wait a moment. Willow stopped in confusion until she saw Buffy set her carryon luggage and laptop case on the floor beside her and then motioned for Willow to come closer. The red head ran at her long time best friend at full speed, almost knocking her over and causing other people in the area to turn and look at them.

Even though Willow, Oz and Olivia had gone to New York City to see Buffy for the 4th of July it still felt like it had been so much longer! They had stayed with Buffy in her small apartment for almost a month and it wasn't long enough. After graduating from Sunnydale University where she studied computers, Willow and Oz had dreamed of getting a job with NASA together but instead Willow became the computer science teacher at Sunnydale High. Oz also worked with computers but instead of working for NASA, he created his own computer software company, working at home allowed him be with Olivia during the day. Willow was so grateful for her wonderful husband.

"Buffy, I have missed you so much!" Willow said squeezing her best friend as tight as she could.

Buffy laughed as they swayed back and forth. "I missed you too, Wills!"

Pulling back from their embrace, Willow smiled as she picked up Buffy's laptop bag. "Come on, let's go get your luggage."

"There is more than I originally planned on bringing…" Buffy trailed off.

Willow smiled brighter. "Maybe because you secretly want to stay longer."

Buffy shook her head. "No, not really." Looking around the airport, she remembered the last time she was here but decided to push that thought back. She didn't want to think about that right now, or ever again. It was one of the worse moments she had experienced. "This place look so different."

"Well, it has been about 10 years since you have been here." Willow commented. "I'm sure it looks tiny compared to New York City or all the other places you have visited on your book tours."

"Actually…" Buffy whispered. "I'm the one who feels tiny." Buffy couldn't help but remember the tears and fear she felt the last time she was in this airport, it was the day she left Sunnydale and her whole world changed.

0o0o0

"So." Willow buckled her seatbelt, smiling. "Do you want to go straight to your parent's house, stay with me tonight or maybe we could grab something to eat."

Buffy smiled, she didn't really want to go to her parent's house at all so at the last minute she called her Grandma to ask if she could stay with her. It would be nice to spend time with her Grandma, instead of her mom who would no doubt be bugging her about her past mistakes. Her Grandma on the other hand focused more on Buffy's accomplishments. Looking at the clock on the car dashboard she noticed that it was after 11pm. "I could go for something to eat but what is open this late in Sunnydale?"

"This isn't the same Sunnydale you left, Buffy." Willow laughed. "There are a few places open pretty late now, especially near campus for students that are up late studying."

"Or partying." Buffy smiled. She may not have attended college in Sunnydale but college students were universal.

Willow nodded. "That too. So, Chinese?"

Buffy nodded back. "Yum! Sounds good!"

"Just remember, this is still Sunnydale." Willow reminded her. "It's not going to be NYC yummy."

0o0o0

After pigging out on Chinese food Buffy had crashed at Willow's house on her couch, in the morning they went out for breakfast with Oz and baby Olivia before Willow dropped Buffy off to rent a car then Willow went off for her last day of school before Christmas break started. Willow was excited that it was only a half day, the break was much needed. She remembered what it was like for her and her friends before break so she didn't even plan on doing anything but eating treats during class. While they were at breakfast Willow told her of their plans to buy a house with an extra room so that way whenever Buffy came to visit she could always stay with them.

Buffy pulled up in front of her Grandma's large red Victorian style house and went to the trunk to grab her bags. She stood out on the sidewalk and just looked at her Grandma's house. She had a lot of great memories in this house. Making her way up the steps, she opened the door and smelt a familiar smell the only thing it was missing was the smell of something in the oven. Looking around the house she was happy to see that something hadn't changed, the old Grandfather clock still stood in the foyer next to a wooden table with a bowl for car keys that had been there since Buffy was a little girl. She would often visit her grandma on breaks from school when she was little and when her family moved to Sunnydale she spent even more time in the beautiful house. The house had 5 bedrooms, her Grandma said it was in hopes of her two daughters filling them with grandchildren but to her disappointment she now only had one Grandchild. Buffy had a cousin but Cecelia had died when she was very young, her aunt never got over the death of her daughter and never had any other children.

Buffy looked straight forward from her spot at the door, setting down her luggage, she smiled when she could see the bottom of the stairs. Everything in the house reminded her of the great times she had in the house. Walking over to the open archway leading into the living room, she was sure the same couch would be there that had always been there. The couch where she had many long study sessions and even longer make out sessions with… Buffy suddenly froze when she saw someone sitting on the couch, it was the very same person she had all those wonderful study and make out sessions with, just sitting there reading a book. She took a deep breath and whispered. "Angel…"

The gorgeous dark haired man looked up when he heard his name. Buffy could only think once thing, he was like a fine bottle of wine… he got even better with age. His dark brown hair was now brushed over to the side instead of the usual spikes she remembered, he looked as if he worked out more than he used to but his eyes still looked as soulful as they always had. "Buffy." He said as he put a book mark in his book and stood up. "Wow, it's been a long time."

"A lifetime." Buffy said still whispering. "What are you doing here… I mean, did my Grandma tell you I was going to be here?"

"No." He shook his head. "I had no idea you were going to be here, it's really great to see you." He reached out to hug her, she was surprised by the hug. It wasn't something she expected after what had happened with them and how long it had been since they had seen each other.

"Yeah, you too." She hugged him tightly, she remembered how it felt to be in his arms but remembering it was never as good as actually being there. Closing her eyes, she let go of all the anxieties she had about being back in Sunnydale. Angel always had that effect on her. She didn't want to let go but she knew the hug had to end. "So… you're here…"

"Oh, right." Angel laughed as sat back on the arm of the floral print couch, just like he used to so many times. "I'm surprised no one told you, I'm your Grandma's doctor."

"You're a doctor?" Buffy asked shocked.

Angel nodded. "I know, it's not really what the old me would be doing. I always talked about being a teacher, but I discovered a new passion."

"I understand that." Buffy nodded looking into his dark chocolate eyes. "I'm not exactly a fashion designer."

"Life doesn't always work out the way you want it too." He smiled. "You seem… happy though, what did you end up doing?"

"Um… I'm surprised no one told you." She repeated his statement. "I write books."

"I guess we both took extremely different paths." He glanced down at his hands before looking up at her again. "Do you plan on staying here?"

"Yeah." Buffy nodded. "For the next few weeks anyway, I heard about my Grandma being hurt so I decided to come home to visit. You're her doctor, how is she?"

"She's good." Angel told her as he stood up from the arm of the couch, he didn't want to go into too much detail though, it didn't feel like it was his place. "She's handling it pretty well, you know how she is about taking it easy though."

"She rather wouldn't." They both said at the same time and laughed.

"You get that from her." He smiled and tucked a piece of blonde hair behind her ear. "Well, if you are going to be here then I should get going. I have a few things to do, I just didn't want your Grandma to be alone."

"Oh, of course." Buffy nodded, he probably had other patients to see or a girlfriend or maybe even a wife to get back to. She quickly looked to his left hand but didn't see a ring, Angel was never big on rings. The only ring he ever wore was the Claddagh rings that they had exchanged on their first anniversary when they were sixteen.

She didn't know if Angel saw her looking for a ring but he smiled. "I guess I will see you around, Buffy."

Buffy nodded. "Probably. I will be here for a little while."

"Good." Angel walked over to the coffee table and picked up his book then turned back towards Buffy. "It really is great to see you again, Buffy."

0o0o0

Once Angel had left Buffy grabbed her bags and put them in her old room she stayed in when she would stay at her Grandma's house and then made her way to her Grandma's room. She lightly knocked on the door and opened the door a crack. She saw her grandma lying in bed with her leg in a brace, propped up on a pillow. "Buffy, sweetheart! You are here! Come in!"

Buffy smiled even though it was hard for her to see her Grandma like that. She was always the strongest person Buffy had ever known. "Hey, Grandma." Walking over to her Grandma she climbed into the large bed and laid down beside her.

Anne places a kiss to her granddaughters head. "I thought you were getting in last night."

"I did." Buffy replied getting even more comfortable in her Grandma's bed. "I was hungry after getting off the plane so Willow took me to get something to eat and it was so late we just went back to her house."

"Oh, how is Olivia doing?" Her Grandma asked. "Willow and Oz haven't been bringing her with them since I got hurt. They don't want her climbing all over me. Nonsense! That little girl is so sweet, I wouldn't mind! It's almost like having a great grandchild."

Buffy looked at her Grandma out of the corner of her eye, was she trying to hint at something? "She is the only great grandchild you are going to get."

"Don't say that, Sweetie." Anne hugged her granddaughter closer. "You still aren't dating anyone?"

Buffy shook her head. "There was this guy…"

Anne gave her granddaughter a look, telling her to explain.

"It was on the plane." Buffy continued. "His name is Ford, he bumped into me at the airport trying to get to his flight on time but he ended up missing it anyway and they put him on a different flight which just happened to be mine too. He switched seats with someone so that he could sit next to me, and we talked the whole way to Los Angeles."

Anne smiled. "Please tell me you got his number."

Buffy nodded. "I did get his number but…"

"There is a but?" Anne frowned.

"The whole time I was talking to him, he reminded me of Angel." She told her Grandma. "Dark hair, dark eyes… even the forehead!"

"Someone else had a forehead like that?" Her grandma laughed.

Buffy chuckled. "It's not a bad forehead for Angel to have."

Anne shook her head and sighed. Her granddaughter was still as much in love with her high school sweetheart as she had been years ago. She wasn't sure if Angel still had those feelings for Buffy as well but she still held out hope that they would reconnect on Buffy's visit. "What about this Ford guy? Is there any spark there?"

Buffy thought for a moment then shook her head. "He seems like a great guy, someone I could be friends with but I don't know if I would date him. I told Willow about him, she said I should call him and give it a chance."

"If you like him then you should give him a call, but if you don't feel anything there don't force a relationship." Anne told her. "But… just keep in mind that I would like a great grandchild and your parents would like a grandchild."

Buffy groaned and put a pillow over her face.

0o0o0

"Mom!" Joyce Summers called as she walked into her mother's house.

Buffy ran down the stairs quickly. "Mom." She whispered. "Grandma is sleeping."

"Buffy!" Joyce looked at her daughter for the first time in person in 10 years. "I didn't know you were here. I thought you would have stayed with us."

"I figured someone needed to be with grandma." Buffy said, leaving off the part about not wanting to be around her mom too much.

Joyce looked confused for a moment. "Where is Angel? He is normally here with her."

"What do you mean normally?" The blonde asked her mom confused. "Doesn't he have other patients?"

"Of course, he does." Joyce nodded walking into the kitchen to check to see if there was a list of groceries that were needed for the house. "He just takes a special interest in your Grandmother."

"Joyce…" Buffy smiled when she heard her father's British accent calling from the other room. He walked into the kitchen to find his wife looking over a list that Angel must have written, with his daughter standing on the other side of the kitchen island. "Buffy!"

Buffy ran across the room to give her dad a hug. "Hey, Daddy!"

"Why didn't I get that kind of greeting?" Joyce asked softly.

"It has been far too long since you have been home, Buffy." Her father, Rupert said with a small smile.

Buffy nodded. "I know, it's just…"

"If she hasn't moved all the way across the country for nothing, she would be home more often." Joyce commented as she walked past her husband and daughter.

Buffy rolled her eyes as her dad turned to watch his wife walking back towards the door. "I believe it is comments like that one that causes you to lose your warm welcome, Love."

Buffy smirked at her dad and he winked at her. "I am going to stay with your Grandmother while your mother goes to the store for her. You should go with your mother, pick up anything you will want while you are here."

Raising her eyebrows at her dad questionably, she shook her head but earned a nod from her father in return. Buffy huffed, she knew she wasn't going to get out of this. Her dad wanted her to make up with her mom, he always talked about it. "Fine."


	3. I Always Liked Your Baking

Thank you for the reviews, I really appreciate it! I am getting pretty into this story so it is longer than I originally planned and I'm not finished writing it yet. I start classes on January 11th so hopefully I finish it before then.

Chapter 3: I Always Liked Your Baking

Buffy looked down at the grocery list in her hand, she smiled at Angel's handwriting. She knew his handwriting very well, he had written her a lot of letters when they were in high school. He would give her at least one letter a day, if her day wasn't going very well a simple letter from Angel would make it better. There were a lot of days in the past ten years that she could have used a letter from Angel. She remembered the first letter she had gotten from Angel. It was her first day of school at Sunnydale High school, she hadn't met anyone yet. Angel had seen her walking down the hall to find her next class and instantly wanted to know her, so he wrote her a letter while he was in class. Later that day he had pretended to bump into her causing her to spill her purse, he helped her pick up her belongings and slipped the note into her purse. What was with guys bumping into her?

"Buffy." Her mother called out interrupting her thoughts.

Shaking her head, Buffy turned to her mom who had her hand out for the list. "Is there anything on the list from this isle?"

Buffy glanced at the list and smiled when she saw cake on the list, she knew that was an item Angel must have wanted for himself. Her Grandma would never buy a cake when she could make it herself and Angel always had a sweet tooth. "No, not on this isle."

"Okay." Joyce nodded and looked at her daughter. "So, how is life for you?"

Buffy did a double take, she didn't know when the last time her mother asked her that. "Um, it's going alright."

"No, it's not." Joyce instantly disagreed earning an annoyed look from Buffy. "It may have been a long time since I have seen you but you are still my daughter, that 'um' is your tell. If you want to talk about it, I am here."

Buffy nodded. She used to talk to her mom about everything, she missed it and her mom obviously still knew her as well as she always had. "It's nothing, work is going great" She replied as she put a few carrots into the cart.

"Life isn't all about work, Buffy." Her mother pointed out. Buffy was surprised that her mother would say that, Joyce had always been the workaholic in the family since starting her own Art Gallery when they moved to Sunnydale. "Since your Grandma got hurt, I am taking a new look at life. I'm trying to spend more time with her."

Buffy understood that, when she walked into her Grandma's bedroom earlier that morning it was hard for her. Anne Jenkins had always been the strongest person she knew, and there she was depending on others for everything, one of those other people just happened to be Buffy's ex-boyfriend. She still couldn't believe that Angel had become a doctor, and she wondered why no one had told her that he was her Grandma's doctor! "I know work isn't everything, mom."

"Just as long as you know that." Joyce said pushing the cart forward.

0o0o0

Buffy and her mother walked into the manor, each with bags in both hands. The shopping trip hadn't been as bad as she thought, her mother only mentioned how she had screwed up her life once. Maybe there was hope that they could move past this. "Dad?" Buffy called out loud enough for her dad to hear if he was downstairs but she didn't want to bother her Grandma.

Walking through the house towards the kitchen Buffy saw her dad in the solarium, it had always been on of Buffy's favorite rooms in her Grandma's house. She used to sit at the round table with Willow, Xander and Angel, the guys would talk about all their guys stuff while Willow would study and Buffy would look at fashion magazines. Rupert folded the newspaper he had been reading. "Hello ladies, do you need help bringing bags in?"

Buffy nodded as she set the two bags she had on the island counter in the kitchen. Rupert stood from his chair at the same round table Buffy used to sit at. "Angel stopped by to check on Anne, he is upstairs with her now."

Joyce set down the two bags she had. "I am going to go see if she needs anything."

Buffy bit her lip and nodded, she didn't know Angel was going to be around so much. As much as she still cared about Angel it was hard to see him, she was reminded of the last time she saw Angel at the airport when she was leaving for New York City. That day at the airport she cried harder than she ever remembered crying, Angel had tears in his eyes too but he never once asked her to stay. If he had asked she knew she wouldn't have ever left Sunnydale.

Joyce walked up the stairs, she went to knock on her mother's bedroom door but paused when she heard Angel's voice. "You have to tell them at some point, you only have a few weeks left." Joyce's eyes got large with shock when she heard what Angel had said. Her mom was sick? Her mom was dying? Joyce quickly walked back down the stairs going straight to the kitchen where her husband was putting groceries away. She looked around the kitchen quickly. "Where is Buffy?"

"She went upstairs." Rupert pointed to the ceiling. "She is going to call Willow to see if she wants to come over. Apparently your mother wants Olivia around more."

Joyce walked quickly over to her husband, she didn't want to chance Buffy hearing her. "Mom is dying!" She said in a harsh whisper.

Rupert looked at his wife like she was crazy. "What are you talking about?"

"I just heard Angel telling her that she only had a few weeks left to live." She whispered.

Giles frowned and set the loaf of bread on the counter. "Why wouldn't she tell us?" He asked looking down at the bread, normally Anne would make her own bread. "I don't think we should jump to conclusions, dear. We should wait until she tells us something."

0o0o0

Buffy shut her bedroom door, about to go check on her Grandma when Angel came out from her Grandma's bedroom. He looked towards her and smiled. "Hey, Buffy."

"Angel, Hey." She gave him a small smile. "How is Grandma doing?"

"Uh." Angel glanced over his shoulder at her Grandma's bedroom door. "She is doing fine, she said she is going to take a nap. I think she naps out of boredom, she wants something to do."

Buffy laughed. "I'm sure she does, she isn't used to being so cooped up. When do you think she will be back on her feet again?"

"Probably a few weeks." He answered her. "Even then, she shouldn't be on that foot for long periods of time."

"Are you sure that is possible?" Buffy narrowed her eyes playfully. "She isn't one to be told what to do."

"Neither are you." He laughed as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"I vaguely remember a certain guy getting me to do things I didn't want to do." She smiled brightly, stepping closer to him.

Angel laughed and took a step closer. "I guess I did have a way with doing that."

She playfully smiled up at him. "Yeah, you did. And what about you? How are you doing?"

"I'm good." He nodded. "I have been busy, you know how hectic life can be to begin with and now with the holidays. Coming to check up on your Grandma is my down time."

"Is that why you spend so much time here?" She giggled. She felt a familiar feeling that she hadn't felt since she first met Angel when they started flirting.

"You caught me!" He held his hands up in surrender. When he held his hand up he caught a glance of his watch. "Oh, I better get going! I will stop by again but if your Grandma needs anything just give me a call."

Buffy nodded and watched him walk away, she got a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. She hated to see him leave. Buffy bit her lip, her Grandma would be sleeping for a while so she went downstairs to the kitchen.

0o0o0

The next day Buffy waited for Angel to come to check on her grandma but he didn't come. "Hey, Grandma." She walked into the bedroom and laid on the bed with the older woman. "Do you know when Angel is coming over?"

Anne raised her eyebrows at her granddaughter. "Why do you ask?"

Buffy shrugged. "I thought maybe he came over every day to check on you since he is your doctor and…"

"And what?"

"and…" She shrugged again. "I kind of baked him a cake."

"Really?" Anne smiled. She knew Buffy used to bake for Angel back when they were dating, it made her wonder if the two, who had been so in love just a few years ago where reconnecting.

Buffy nodded slowly but didn't make eye contact with her Grandma.

"You should take it to him." Anne smiled brighter. "He said he was going to try to make it home early tonight."

"Why would he tell you that?" The blonde asked her Grandmother, confused.

Anne gave her a pointed look. "I'm not just his patient, since his own Grandma passed away he has been calling me and coming over more often."

"Oh, I didn't know that." Buffy whispered, she hadn't even know that Kathleen had passed away. "So, I am sharing my Grandma with my ex? Isn't that a little weird?"

The older woman shook her head. "This is how it would have been if you had gotten married, like you said you wanted to."

"Yeah, but then life happened." Buffy frowned. She really did think she would end up marrying Angel and they would have a couple kids, maybe a dog. Then senior year of high school he told her that he didn't want to leave Sunnydale and she would be going to New York City alone. They made the most of their time together right up until he took her to the airport. There were times when she regretted going to college in New York because she missed Angel so much. She tried calling Angel several times after moving to New York but his parents always told her the same thing. Once she graduated she regretted it even more because her mother was right, she wasted four years of her life and lost the love of her life in the process. She had thought about moving back to Sunnydale but when she called Angel's parent's house to find a way to contact him once again, they told her that he had done exactly what he had said he didn't want to do. He left Sunnydale. They didn't say where he had moved to, just that she couldn't contact him where he was. After that she just decided to stay in New York and work on her writing. Angel obviously came back at some point, she was curious about when he had come back and where he had gone. "You know, I don't even know where he lives." Buffy reminded her grandma. "I can't exactly take him the cake."

Anne smiled brightly. "It's a good thing I have his address."

0o0o0

Buffy turned to grab the cake then opened the rental car door, she looked up at the building in front of her. She didn't expect Angel to be living in an apartment building, he was a doctor, she was sure he could afford a nice house. Entering the front door to the apartment building she pulled the piece of paper out of her pocket to look at the apartment number her Grandma had scribbled down for her. Looking at the first door in the building, judging by the number on the door she assumed his apartment was on the next floor. Stopping in front of the door that matched the number on the paper she took a deep breath and knocked. What if his girlfriend answered the door? She suddenly wanted to back out but she had already knocked, there was no way she could get down the stairs before someone answered the door, could she? She was still wrestling with that question when the door opened.

"Buffy?" Came Angel's deep smooth voice.

Buffy shook her head, clearing the thoughts. "Angel, hey."

"Is everything alright?" He asked concerned. "Is it Anne?" If something had happened to one of his patients someone should have called him.

"No, my Grandma is fine." She smiled, he was so cute when he was worried. "I just…" She held up a pink box from her Grandma's bakery.

"Anne didn't…" He frowned. "She shouldn't be up…"

"No." She stopped him. "She didn't. I… I did."

"Oh." He let out a sigh of relief and smiled. "Thank you." He paused for a moment then reached out to take the box. He glanced over his shoulder quickly before turned back to her. "Would you like to come in?"

Giving him a small smile, she nodded.

Angel took the cake box and stepped back, allowing Buffy to enter his apartment. Buffy looked around while he shut the door, it wasn't what she expected. There was no visible evidence that a woman lived there at all. No colorful girly items in the living room or kitchen that she could see of. The whole apartment was dark, only being lit by a few table lamps. There was a dark maroon curtain on the far wall, it looked as if it was a divider and artifacts in cases that looked like they were from her mom's art gallery. "Thank you, Buffy." He smiled as he walked over to the kitchen and placed the box on the small table. The table was simple, a white top with metal legs, no woman would have that in her home! Maybe he was single. "I always liked your baking."

"It's not a problem, I saw that you had added cake to the grocery list and thought you would rather have a homemade one instead." She smiled as she looked around his apartment, she stopped in front of his book shelf, and pointed to some books on the shelf turning towards him. "I thought you didn't know I had become a writer?" She couldn't believe he had her books, all of them! Even the children's books she wrote when she first started out.

Angel shrugged. "Yeah… um, I have all your books."

"I see that." Buffy laughed.

"Are you working on another one?" He wondered. "I mean, I'm just curious to see if Abby is alive or not."

"I won't be writing another one because Abby is dead." She said seriously.

Angel looked shocked for a moment then shook his head. "There is no way you can end a series like that! Your fans are going to be so mad if you leave us with that cliffhanger."

Buffy smiled, he had said us when referring to her fans. Angel was a fan of her writing! "Well, if you promise not to tell anyone… yes, I am working on another book."

"Yes!" Angel smiled brightly. "I knew you wouldn't leave us hanging!"

Buffy laughed and shook her head.

"You know, I was just about to order some dinner…" Angel said holding up a menu. "Craving Chinese?"

Buffy smiled, when they were dating he often took her out for Chinese because it was her favorite. "Sounds great."

0o0o0

Buffy stuck her chopsticks in her noodles and leaned closer to Angel from her spot on the floor. "So, do you always sit in the dark when you eat?"

Angel nodded with a teasing smile. "Oh yeah, it sets the mood for my brooding… and my electric bill is low."

Buffy laughed and leaned against the couch behind them. "Why would you brood?"

"I have made mistakes, Buffy." He said turning serious. "Some of them I can't seem to get past."

"Yeah." Buffy nodded. "I understand making mistakes, I have made more than my fair share."

Angel looked down at the container of food in his hand. "Everyone makes mistakes."

"Some mistakes are worse than other." She mumbled. Her mom was right, moving to New York was a huge mistake. She should have just stayed in Sunnydale, now she is still dealing with the consequences of disappointing her mother and losing Angel. Maybe she should just tell her mom that she knew she made a mistake.

"Do you still skate?" He asked her, receiving an odd look from Buffy. "I just remembered how much you loved to skate."

Buffy smiled. She had always loved to skate but she hadn't gone ice skating in years, the last time she went was on the ice Angel took her for her eighteenth birthday. She had attempted to go several times in New York. "It's been a while. I have planned to go with a friend of mine but something always comes up. There is the most beautiful ice rink in Rockefeller Center but we don't go there because it's depressing."

Angel chuckled. "Why is it depressing?"

"A couple unmarried almost 30 year old women being at one of the most popular location for proposals…" Buffy replied with a sad smile.

"You aren't almost 30, Buffy." He told her truthfully. "We still have a few years."

"Yeah, I know." She replied softly then started to get up. "I should probably get going, this was nice though."

Angel looked down at his container of food before setting it down on his coffee table, using the couch to push himself up off the floor. "We should go skating sometime while you are here." He suggested. "If you aren't doing anything tomorrow…"

Buffy shook her head. "I'm not… I mean, I'm not doing anything tomorrow during the day."

"Okay." Angel smiled. "I have a few appointments in the morning but I should be free around 1-ish. We could meet at the rink and…maybe we could grab some lunch too."

"That sounds…" Buffy smiled lightly. "great."


	4. Somethings Never Change

I hope you all had a safe and blessed New Years, if you celebrate it.

Chapter 4: Somethings Never Change

Buffy smiled as she got ready, she was happy but she was also nervous. Was she going on a date with Angel or were they just hanging out? She had the urge to wear a skirt knowing that Angel liked her to wear them. In high school he used to tell her the shorter the better because he loved her legs, but they weren't a couple anymore and this wasn't a date. She didn't know what to wear but they were going ice skating so pants would be the best bet.

Walking into her Grandma's room smiling, Buffy stopped in the doorway. She was going to make sure her Grandma didn't need anything before she left. Her mother seemed to have beat her to it though because Joyce was standing a few feet inside the bedroom. Anne smiled at the young blonde. "Good morning, Buffy! Where are you off too?"

"I'm going to hit the rink." Buffy smiled as she bounced on her toes excitedly and pointed behind her with her thumb. "It's been a while since I was on the ice."

"That sounds like fun!" Anne smiled back. "Joyce, why don't you go with her?"

Buffy took a deep breath. What if this was a date with Angel? It would be so embarrassing if her mother was there too! There she was again, wondering if it was a date. She almost hoped it was a date. She had always wondered what had become of Angel's life, she was sure he would be married by now but checking his hand she didn't see a wedding ring. Now, she found herself wondering if he had a girlfriend.

Joyce was about to decline, she knew her relationship with Buffy wasn't the best. Then she remembered what she had overheard her mother and Angel talking about. Her mother was sick and only had a few more weeks to live, she couldn't tell her no. "That is a great idea, mom!" Joyce plastered a smile on her face and turned to her own daughter. "Just give me a few minutes to get my stuff."

0o0o0

Buffy made small talk with her mom in the car but they mostly rode in silence. Her mother had come up with the idea to drive her car because Buffy had a rental car and had to pay for the miles. As they walked into the building, Joyce glanced at her daughter. "I saw you typing away in the Solarium, are you working on a new book?"

Buffy nodded. "Another book in my current series."

"How is it coming?" Joyce asked as they approached the counter.

"It is actually going great." Buffy said with a small smile as they waited for the women on the other side of the counter to finish talking with a group of people a few feet away. "Honestly, it was going slow but since I got here… I have already written two chapters."

Joyce smiled. "Did you find a muse here?"

"I guess I did." Buffy smiled, then turned to the tall brunette one the other side of the counter. The women asked them for their size and went back to retrieve them. "How are you on the ice, mom? You never really skated that I know of."

Joyce nodded hesitantly, walking to the benches to put the skates on. "I haven't skated in years, you were such a natural on the ice that you never needed me to help you." She thought for a moment. "I don't even know how you did it, the first time we went in LA, it was like you already knew what you were doing."

"I don't even remember." Buffy shrugged as she looked around seating area for Angel. "I just remember always skating."

As they stood up Joyce almost fell and she grabbed her daughters arm at the same time that Buffy reached out to catch her mother. "Just go slow mom." Buffy encouraged her. "It feels weird being in skates again." What felt really weird was being in skates that didn't belong to her.

"You didn't bring your own skates?" Joyce asked looking down at her feet as they walked slowly towards the rink, still holding onto her daughter. "Are they still in New York?"

"No, I didn't bring them." She replied, glancing around for Angel again. Honestly, she didn't have her skates anymore, she didn't even know where they were. "Ready?"

Joyce nodded and was about to step onto the ice, Buffy stepped out onto the ice first and held her hands out for her mom. Someone skated up to them and placed their hand on Buffy's lower back. "You made it." Buffy turned to see Angel smiling at her.

"You didn't think I would?" Buffy smiled back at her ex-boyfriend.

Angel shrugged while still smiling. "It was touch and go for a minute there."

"Worried?" She joked.

Angel chuckled. "Maybe a little."

Joyce gasped and took a step back off of the ice. "This was planned." She said more to herself. "Why don't you two go out there and have some fun, I need to work up the courage to get out there."

Angel looked slightly concerned for Mrs. Summers. He knew she didn't skate and he didn't want to leave her alone, he had grown to see his ex-girlfriends mother as an honorary mother. He had grown close to her whole family. "Are you sure?"

Joyce nodded and sat down at the closest bench.

Angel held out his hand to Buffy and the blonde smiled putting her hand in his. "It's been a while since I skated, I might be a little rusty."

He shook his head. "No way that you could ever be rusty at skating."

Buffy let out a nervous laugh when she almost fell but Angel caught her. "See, told you I was rusty."

After Buffy had almost fell several times, Angel looked down at her skates. "Are those rentals?" Buffy nodded. "You didn't bring any of your own?"

Why was everyone so shocked that she didn't have her own skates? "I don't have any."

Angel gave her a half smile and nodded towards the edge of the rink. He stepped off the ice and went over to his stuff. No wonder Buffy didn't see him, his stuff was on the other side of the rink. He bent down, picking up a box from under the bench. "I thought you might want these back…"

He handed her the box and she opened it slowly to reveal her old skates from high school. She suddenly remembered the last time she had seen them, she had taken them with her to Angel's house because they were going to go skating. They never made it to the ice rink though, instead they stayed at his house for dinner, watched movies and she ended up spending the night. She lifted one of the skates out of the box, it looked as if he had sharpened them for her. "Oh, wow. Thank you!" She smiled as she sat beside Angel's belongings to switch into her own skates. "I didn't know where they were."

"You left them at my house the last time you…" Angel paused and whispered. "spent the night. I figured you would want them because they were custom made."

"You remembered that?" Buffy asked as she slipped her foot into the skate.

Angel laughed. "How could I forget? You went on about it… a lot."

Buffy laughed, she didn't think she talked about it that much but it was possible. Willow and Xander had mentioned in the past that when she was excited about something she never stopped talking about it. The first time Willow pointed it out was when Buffy couldn't stop talking about Angel. "I guess I tended to do that, I'm sorry. It was probably annoying."

"Not at all." He smiled. "I think it's cute." He let out a small laugh when he saw Buffy blush, the only time he remembered her blushing around him was during the honeymoon phase when they first started dating. He held his hand out to her again. "Ready to try again?"

She took his hand, smiling as he led her back out onto the ice. "You seem to have gotten better at this." She told him.

Angel nodded. "I have been skating a lot the last few years."

She wondered if his girlfriend was into ice skating and that was why he went. There she was obsessing over if he had a girlfriend or not. Of course he had a girlfriend, anyone would be stupid not to want him. She was stupid to have given him up.

"Hey…" Angel smiled and nodded towards the other side of the rink. "Your mom."

Buffy looked to see her mom venturing out onto the ice, Buffy smiled when she saw how well her mom was doing but winced when she saw her mom suddenly fall. She skated over to her mother quickly. "That was great, mom!" She said as she helped her mother up from the ice.

Joyce laughed as she clung to her daughters arm. "At least I tried."

0o0o0

Buffy and Angel continued skating until Buffy realized she was hungry. She smiled up at Angel. "You mentioned something about lunch, right?"

Angel nodded and laughed. It was just like Buffy to think about food, in high school they would always stop at her Grandma's bakery to get something to eat after school. Being a burger lover, he often talked her into going to the local diner on Main Street too.

"I wonder where my mom went.." Buffy asked as they skated over to where her mother had been sitting. After her mother had fallen she went back over to sit.

He glanced around to try to find Joyce but didn't see her before he sat down and quickly took off his skates. "I'm going to go over and grab my stuff, I will be right back."

Looking down at his socks, Buffy smiled when she saw he was wearing green and red Christmas socks. He always wore colorful socks, it was something she loved about him. After she took off her skates and put her shoes on, she sat down then pulled out her phone to see if Amy had text her back. Instead, she saw a text from her mother saying she hoped she had fun with Angel and she was going to go home but to give her a call if she needed a ride.

Angel handed her the box for her skates and walked over with her to return her rented skates she originally got. The tall brunette was talking to a woman but instantly walked over to them with a smile on her face this time. "Hey, Sarge!" She leaned across the counter. "What can I do for you?"

Angel smiled at the young brunette, she never learned. She flirted with him every time he came in. He nodded towards Buffy. "We just wanted to return these to you, Aphrodesia"

"Oh." The woman Buffy now knew was Aphrodesia looked disappointed. She took the skates from Buffy and placed them on the counter. "So, Angel… when are you going to sweep me off my feet?"

Angel laughed but Buffy frowned. "When the time is right, Love."

Buffy raised her eyebrows at Angel but he was too busy laughing with the dark haired women. She remembered a time when the nickname Love was only reserved for her. While the two were talking Buffy silently excused herself and went to the restroom, she sighed when she saw the line but was also grateful that she didn't have to stand there and listen to Angel and this Aphrodesia girl flirt. When she finally got done in the restroom she walked back out and saw Angel still talking to the dark haired woman. Did she ever do her job?

Angel started to wonder what was taking Buffy so long, he noticed she went towards the bathroom but that was a while ago. He glanced towards the bathroom and noticed Buffy walking towards the exit. He turned to grab the box with her skates in it quickly, said goodbye to Aphrodesia then jogged towards Buffy. He caught up with her outside, she was walking down the sidewalk as she pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. "Buffy!" He called jogging up to her. "Where are you going?"

"My mom left earlier." She motioned to her phone. "I'm just going to give her a call to have her pick me up."

"I thought you were hungry." He commented. "What about lunch?" He glanced at his watched. "Well, at this time it's more like dinner. I didn't expect to skate this long but it was fun."

Buffy nodded. "Yeah, it was. I can just get something to eat at my grandma's, I don't want to interrupt you."

"Interrupt?" He asked confused.

Buffy nodded her head towards the building. "With the flirting."

"Flirt…" Angel laughed. "Buffy, I do not flirt."

"Oh, you flirt." She disagreed. "You were the biggest flirt in the whole school."

"With you." He pointed out. "I was a big flirt with you. I don't flirt."

Buffy shook her head again. "I know I haven't…" Buffy stopped herself, she didn't want to tell him that she hadn't dated in a long time but she still knew what flirting looked like. That would make her look like a loser. She probably was. She didn't have much of a life outside of writing and Amy. "You were flirting."

"I wasn't flirting." He said pointedly. "Now, where would you like to get dinner?"

Buffy rolled her eyes, she realized she was acting jealous and she had no right to be. "Is Krystal's still open?"

Angel smiled at the mention of his favorite diner in Sunnydale and nodded. "Yeah, if they even thought about closing down I would eat every meal there just to keep them open."

A short laugh escaped Buffy's lips, she wouldn't put it past him to do that.

"Come on." He nodded towards the parking lot where there was a large black car. "I'm parked over here."

0o0o0

Buffy looked around the old diner, it was like a blast from the past. Krystal's Diner looked exactly the same as it had 10 years ago, it seemed that a lot of things hadn't changed since she had last been to the small town. That was when she realized the women from the rink looked familiar. Buffy took a sip of water before setting it down and looking at Angel from across the table. "Your girlfriend looked familiar, do I know her?"

"Girlfriend?" He asked confused. "You mean Aphrodesia?" Buffy nodded. "We went to school with her, she used to be friends with Cordelia Chase."

"Oh…" Buffy closed her eyes trying to think back about who Cordelia Chase hung out with. Buffy herself hung out with them for a short time when she first moved to Sunnydale. "Oh! Didn't she have red hair back then?"

Angel nodded. "She colored it brown a few years ago. Cordelia, Aphrodesia, Gwen, Katherine and Harmony all had it in their heads that they would become actresses. They all dyed their hair the same shade of brown as Cordelia and went to auditions together."

Buffy raised her eyebrows, they really were sheep. "Did they ever get any parts?"

Angel shook his head. "Not that I know of. By the time I got back to town Aphrodesia was working at the rink, Cordelia works for a friend of mine and somehow got him to hire Harmony too. No one really talks about Gwen and Katherine."

"I heard you left town." She said glancing down at her glass of water. "I thought you didn't want to leave Sunnydale."

"I didn't." He sighed. "But after you left, I realized… I didn't want to be here without you."

"Neither did I." She whispered. She didn't know if he had heard her or not, but she had been talking to herself anyway. "Where did you go?"

"A few places. I moved around a lot." He answered. "You go where the Army tells you."

"You… you joined the Army?" She asked shocked.

Angel nodded. "Four years and two deployments later, I decided to come back here and finish my schooling to become a doctor. It was easier for me because I was a combat medic. Which I only picked because all the other jobs were taken when I enlisted, but I ended up really enjoying it."

Buffy nodded, still shocked. She never would have guessed that Angel would have enlisted into the Army. "That's why I couldn't talk to you…"

"What?" He asked confused.

"Um…" Buffy bit her lip. "I tried… when I was in New York, I tried calling your parents to see if they could let me know how to get ahold of you. They said you had left Sunnydale and I couldn't contact you where you were."

"They never told me that." He whispered as he looked down at his glass of Pepsi. "When was that? The only times I couldn't be contacted was when I was in training or deployed."

"Which time?" She gave him a sad smile. "I tried calling a few times, I guess I hoped you would become available."

"What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?" he asked curiously.

Buffy shrugged. "I just… had a hard time adjusting and…" She shrugged again. "You always knew what to say to make me feel better. I almost moved ba…I just missed you."

They both looked up as the waitress brought them their food, Buffy thought it was the same waitress that used to work there way back when. Angel sat and tried to think for a moment before turning back to look at Buffy, then he quickly got up and sat on the bench beside her. "You almost moved back?"

Buffy had hoped he didn't notice that she mentioned that, she didn't mean for it to come out, so she simply nodded.

"When?" He asked putting his arm behind her on the back of the bench.

"About six years ago." She answered him quietly.

Angel sighed, pulling Buffy closer to him and leaned his forehead against the side of her head. He could have had his girl back but instead he was unreachable so she didn't come back home. "I missed you too."

Buffy turned her head slowly to face him, he was so close that she could feel his warm breath on her face.

"So much." He whispered before he leaned closer, placing a soft kiss to her lips. He smiled against her lips when she leaned in closer to him and opened her mouth to invite him in. After several moments the two pulled away slightly, he placed another soft kiss to her lips and then to her temple before reaching across the table to slid his food over to him with a bright smile. Buffy rested her head on his shoulder and smiled.

They joked and teased each other as they finished their meal. Angel kept his arm around her shoulder the whole time, just like he used to. It felt as though no time had passed. When Angel drove her back to her Grandma's they talked and held hands the whole way.

He walked her to the door before kissing her once again. "You know, we are having a Christmas party here in a few days, dad said you okayed Grandma to be out of bed for short periods during the holiday." Angel nodded. "Well, would you like to come?"

Angel looked above her head where the porchlight was. He thought for a moment about when the family had their annual Christmas party. "I can't, I'm busy."

"Oh." She nodded, but didn't want to show that she was disappointed. "Okay. I should get inside." She pointed to the house before opening the door. "Good night."

Joyce was walking towards the living room with a bowl of popcorn when Buffy walked in and shut the door. "How did it go? Did you have fun?"

"It was okay." She told her mom. "I guess I thought it went better than it did. I invited him to the Christmas party but he said he was busy."

"Maybe he is seeing someone." Joyce thought out loud, but he hasn't mentioned anything to her about seeing someone. Unless it was a new relationship that he hadn't told anyone about yet. Ever since his parents had moved to Florida he didn't spend the holidays with them, there was always the possibility that they would come into town.

"My thoughts exactly." She was confused, they had just been making out like teenagers at Krystal's and then again at Lovers Lane, where they used to go. Before it would lead to more intimate activities but tonight Angel was the one who stopped. He simply kissed her one last time and then said it was late and she should be getting home. It was getting late, it was almost 11:00PM but that didn't mean they needed to stop! They weren't teenagers anymore and she certainly didn't have a curfew. "I'm going to go to bed."

"You don't want to watch a movie with me and your father?" Her mother asked.

Buffy shook her head as she walked up the stairs. "Good night Mom. Good night Dad!"

"Good night, Dear!" He dad called from his spot on the couch.

I hope to post the next chapter tomorrow!


	5. Grandma Knows All

Chapter 5: Grandma Knows All

Buffy laughed when Olivia walked unsteadily towards her and tossed her toy phone into her Aunt Buffy's lap. Picking it up the blonde pretending to make a phone call but the call was cut short when the small red head reached for the phone then threw it on the floor. Willow had mentioned that Olivia was in a phase where she was throwing everything. Buffy made a shocked face at Olivia, the one year old pouted for a moment and then picked the toy back up. She had to admit, being around Olivia was giving her a little bit of baby fever.

Willow walked out of her kitchen with a plate of crackers and cheese that Olivia had picked. She picked up a few crackers, handing them to her daughter and sat down beside Buffy, laughing. "When you are a parent you realize that running after little ones all the time makes you hungry too. So, you spent the day with Angel. What was that like?"

Buffy shrugged. She felt a little bad because in the evening she was supposed to stop by Willow's house but she ended up staying with Angel until 11pm. Willow was more than forgiving when she found out what Buffy had been doing instead. "It had its moments."

"Meaning?" Willow raised her eyebrows at her best friend. Ever since Buffy and Angel met the red head thought they were perfect for each other. It wasn't just heart breaking to the couple when they went their separate ways. Willow always thought it was going to be Buffy and Angel that ended up married, she used to look up to them as a couple. Now it was Buffy that said she looked up to Willow and Oz because they had made it work, even during college when Oz was often out of town doing gigs with his band they still made it work.

"Aphrodesia was there and openly flirting with him and I think he was flirting back." She said picking up a piece of cheese, which caused Willow to smile, Buffy always was a sucker for cheese. "He said he wasn't flirting, actually according to him he doesn't flirt at all."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Willow said rushed. "You had this conversation with him?"

Buffy nodded and took a bite of cheese. "I was going to leave but he caught up with me outside and…" Buffy winced. "I'm pretty sure he knows I'm jealous."

Willow squealed. "What did he say? What did he do?"

"He took me to dinner." Buffy told her.

Willow tilted her head, confused. "How did you end up going to dinner?"

"He gave me that look he always used to give me when he really wanted to get his point across." She said watching Olivia smash her crackers on the coffee table. "Then he asked me where I wanted to go to eat."

Willow laughed. "Same old Angel."

Buffy couldn't help but laugh with the red head. "He is! It was just like no time had passed, I was that comfortable with him."

"Well, duh!" Willow laughed. "You are soulmates!"

"Okay, Wills… don't freak out." Buffy said slowly, placing her hands on the red heads arms. "But… he kissed me wh…"

"What!?" Willow jumped up from her spot on the couch. "What was it like? When did it happen? What did you do? Did you kiss him back? Why aren't you answering me?! On with it woman!"

Buffy shook her head, this is Willow calm. "Oh gosh. It happened at Krystal's, of course I kissed him back and it was amazing!"

Willow jumped up and down excitedly while squealing uncontrollably causing Olivia to do the same.

Buffy laughed at the two red heads, Olivia was so adorable. "And we went to Lover's Lane!" Buffy raised her voice loud enough for Willow to hear over her own excitement.

Willow fell silent as her eyes got large and her mouth hung open in shock, Olivia continued to squeal and jump until she realized her mommy wasn't doing it anymore. The little girl looked to her mom to see what they would do next. Willow hurried over to her daughter and covered her ears, Olivia looked from side to side trying to find out what her mother was doing. "Did you two have…" She looked down at her one year old daughter then back to her best friend. "S-E-X?"

Buffy shook her head. "No. It didn't go that far."

Olivia got tired of standing still, she squirmed her way away from her mother and quickly grabbed a few more crackers and a sippy cup off the coffee table before going over to her toy box on the other side of the room. Willow watched her daughter sit down a little too roughly from lack of balance then turned to her best friend. "Would you have?"

Biting her lip, Buffy scrunched up her face and answered truthfully. "Yeah. I was completely willing, even though it's been a long time since I have… but… he stopped it."

Willow pursed her lips and thought for a moment. "I wonder why… you two used to ALWAYS be all over each other and you both have only gotten better looking since then. You are both beautiful people, if I do say so myself."

"Angel has always been gorgeous." Buffy smiled but then shook her head. "Me and mom think he might be seeing someone."

"You talked to your mom about this?" Willow said excited once again causing Olivia to look towards her mother and let out an excited baby scream. Buffy and Willow both looked towards the small child and smiled. "This is big, Buffy. Like HUGE! You and your mom are making progress!"

Buffy nodded. Willow was right, they were making progress, for the first time in a long time she felt like she could open up to her mom, to an extent at least. "I didn't give her many details but yeah, we are getting somewhere."

Willow was about to respond when the front door opened and Xander walked in holding several bags. "Who's ready to party?" He smiled at Olivia. "I brought Kool-Aid!"

"Like she needs MORE sugar." Willow shook her head, Xander was like the cool uncle who provided Olivia with all the things that her parents wouldn't give her. That was never going to change.

"Hey, Buff!" Xander called from the kitchen. "I got those crescents that you like."

"Oh!" Buffy smiled and turned to Willow. "Everyone needs more sugar."

Willow raised her eyebrows at her best friends. "Okay, then you can spend the night with her."

Buffy stopped walking and turned to face Willow. "Really?"

The red head nodded. She didn't want her daughter to be hyper all night and not sleep at all. "I would actually like to get some sleep tonight."

Buffy smiled, she would love to have Olivia for the night. It would give her a chance to see what it was like to have a child around. "I need to be with my Grandma, can I take Olivia with me there?"

"Wait, you actually want to take the rug rat?" Xander was surprised, Buffy used to like kids, she even took kids around trick or treating on Halloween but after living in New York City for ten years he saw her as a city girl now. City girls didn't want kids, did they?

Buffy nodded. "I would love too! And Grandma wants to see her."

Willow smiled. "I might actually get a date night?"

"That's a great idea, Wills!" Buffy smiled. "I can take Olivia and you and Oz can go on a date!"

0o0o0

Buffy placed the last cookie on the platter before picking it up and going upstairs to her Grandmother. She felt bad about being gone most of the day yesterday with Angel and then again today with Willow and Xander. Olivia had finally fallen asleep after playing outside with Buffy all afternoon, then they went out for dinner and came back to play with the toys that they had brought over from Willow's. It was the most fun she had, had in a long time. She loved playing with Olivia and now she knew for sure that she couldn't wait to have a child.

She lightly knocked on her Grandma's door before walking in, Anne put her bookmark in her book before closing it and setting it on her nightstand. "Hello Dear, is Olivia sleeping?"

Buffy nodded as she hopped into the bed and placed the platter of cookies on a pillow next to the older woman. "She is out! Willow thought she was going to be up all night from all the sugar Xander brought her today but she passed out a lot earlier than I thought she would."

"It's because you tired her out." Anne smiled. Her granddaughter had always been really good with kids, she was a natural born mother.

Buffy picked up the platter and offered her grandma a Christmas cookie that she had just finished making. Anne took a bite out of one and smiled, her granddaughter was clearly following in her footsteps. They both loved to bake but that passion had skipped over her daughter, Joyce. "Gingerbread." Anne commented. She thought for a moment, Gingerbread was Angel's favorite holiday cookie. "You know, Angel loves gingerbread. You should make him some."

"I should?" Buffy asked. She didn't know if that was a good idea. She was worried if she saw him again she wouldn't be able to stop herself from kissing him again and if she and her mother were right, if he did have a girlfriend… well, that just wouldn't be good.

Anne nodded as she took another bite. Buffy baked just as well as she did herself. "Just as a thank you for doing so much for me. He doesn't have to come over and spend as much time with me as he does. He came by earlier today while you were at Willow's and changed my brace, then stayed just to keep me company."

"That was nice of him." Buffy said leaning her head on her hand as she propped herself up on the extra pillows. She was a little sad that she had missed him but at the same time, she didn't want to make a fool of herself.

"Sweetheart, can I ask you a favor?" Anne asked looking over at the blonde, Buffy simply nodded. "I was wondering if you could open the bakery for me, just until I can do it myself. It should only be a few weeks, I just don't want to lose any more money than I already have."

Buffy sat up in shock. "You want ME to open the bakery? I know nothing about having a business, I could run the bakery into the ground in just a few short weeks before you are even better!"

"Ask your mother for help." Anne suggested. "She has had the gallery for almost 15 years, she knows what she is doing."

Buffy let out a short chuckle. She knew what her Grandma was doing, she was pushing the two of them together by making them work together. Buffy didn't think it was a completely bad idea, she was realizing more and more how much she missed her relationship with her mom. Maybe they needed this to give them the opportunity to reconnect. "Okay." Buffy nodded. "I will talk to mom about it."

Anne smiled brightly, her plan was coming together. She asked Buffy to return to Sunnydale for more than just the fact that she had gotten hurt. Her fall was a great opportunity to get Buffy back home, so she took it. From her conversations with Joyce and Buffy, it seemed that they were slowly reconnecting but that was only one part of her plan. She had also planned on trying to get Buffy and Angel back together, which Buffy seemed to get that ball moving all by herself when she baked Angel a cake. Her final part of the plan was to get Buffy to move back to Sunnydale, she hoped a healed relationship with her mother and reconnecting with Angel would make it easier for Buffy to make a life in Sunnydale.

"I should get to bed." Buffy said tiredly. "Willow said Olivia likes to wake up early. Wills will be over in the morning to pick up Olivia and then I will talk to mom about the bakery. Did you need anything before I go to bed, Grandma?"

"No." Anne smiled. "I'm fine, just feeling a little restless." Buffy smiled at her before walking towards the door. "Oh, Buffy." The blonde turned around to look at the older woman. "Thank you."

Buffy smiled. "You're welcome."

0o0o0

Buffy looked around the empty bakery, she had a lot to do if she was going to get this place up and going again. She had talked to her mother who agreed to help her with the business and money end as long as Buffy could handle all the baking. She quickly got to work cleaning and baking for most of the day, she was behind schedule but decided to open the bakery for at least a few hours. No one outside of her family knew the bakery was open so whoever saw the open sign came in, she was actually surprised by how many people had come in. Some of the older customers were excited to see that Buffy was back behind the counter after so many years. It made her feel good to be back.

One of her Grandma's friends had come in and stayed almost the whole time they were open. She raved about Buffy's baking skills and how much like her Grandmother Buffy was. Once the woman left Buffy finished up and locked the bakery before heading to the store to pick up something for herself to eat.

She was still surprised that Sunnydale didn't have a Whole Foods Store, which was where she shopped the most. She looked up and down the isles trying to find something that looked good but she couldn't find anything. If worse came to worse, there was a Wendy's down the street. She took two steps back in order to see what was on the bottom shelf but found herself colliding with a cart behind her. "I am so sorry." She said quickly before she even looked at the person.

"Buffy." She looked up to find Angel smiling at her. "Don't worry about it. Are you alright?"

Buffy nodded. "Yeah, sorry. I'm just trying to find something to eat for dinner."

"You don't have anything to eat at home?" Angel asked her with a small laugh.

"There probably is." Buffy shrugged. "I just didn't feel like bothering with it." She glanced in his cart to see if she could get any ideas for her own dinner from what was in his cart. All he had in his cart was ten packages of hot dogs and a plastic container of Christmas cookies. "Wow, that is a lot of hot dogs."

Angel nodded. "Yeah, I'm having a party."

"A hot dog party?" She questioned.

Shrugging, Angel placed his hands back on the handle of the cart. "What other kind of party is there?"

"It's obnoxious to answer a question with a question." She smiled.

Angel laughed, that was the exact same comment he made to her years earlier when he asked her if she was actually going to study for their History test. She had commented back with 'When are we going to be finished?' "If you need a recommendation for dinner, you should go to the deli." He nodded towards the deli counter in the store. "They have some great sandwiches and potato salad. I better get going but it was good to see you again. I missed you when I was checking on your Grandma earlier." He said before he winked at her.

Buffy smiled at him before he walked away, she didn't know how he would act after the day they spent together. Would he kiss her? Would he act like nothing happened? Clearly, he acted like nothing happened. But what was the wink about? Guys always confused her but Angel was the one guy who never did, now she could add him to that list. Buffy sighed before walking over to the deli to get some dinner.

0o0o0

When Buffy got home she went up to her grandma's room, she had brought her Grandma a sandwich from the deli just in case she was hungry too. Sitting on her Grandma's bed she laughed as she watched her Grandma fiddle with the new iPad her mom had dropped off so she didn't have to watch television and read all the time. Anne was having a hard time figuring out exactly how to work it.

"Grandma…" Buffy asked putting her sandwich down. "Can I ask you a question?"

"If it is how to work this thing…." Anne said poking at the screen several times without waiting for anything to happen. "then no. Anything else, of course dear."

Buffy took a bite of her sandwich, chewing it. Once she swallowed she looked back over to her grandma. "You are like… Angel's honorary grandma, right?"

Anne nodded, still trying to get something called Candy Crush to open. Joyce had said Candy Crush was a good thing to do if she wanted time to go by faster. "I guess you could say that."

"So, he tells you stuff." Buffy asked, taking a sip from her bottled water.

Anne paused for a moment wondering where Buffy was going with this before she continued to poke at the screen. "Of course, dear."

"So…" Buffy paused, she didn't know how her grandma would react to what she was going to ask. "You would know… if he had a girlfriend… right?"

Anne paused again, trying to keep a smile from spreading across her lips. She looked up at Buffy with her eyebrows raised. "Yes, I do know."

Buffy raised her eyebrows back at her grandma. She couldn't just tell her already? "Well… does he?"

"You haven't asked him?"

Buffy shook her head. "I have asked pretty much everyone but him."

Once again Anne tried to stop from smiling, her plan was working. "No, sweetheart. He doesn't have a girlfriend."

"A wife?" The blonde asked, still unsure.

Anne shook her head. "Of course not sweetie, why would he kiss you if he was married?"

Buffy's eyes became large and her mouth dropped open. "How did you…"

"He tells me things, remember?" Anne pointed out. "So, did you make him those cookies?"

Buffy shook her head. "I was thinking about making them though. I ran into him at the store tonight, literally, and he had those hard store bought cookies in his cart. I felt bad that he would eat those."

"Are you going to make him some gingerbread cookies?" Anne asked curiously.

Buffy bit her lip. "I was thinking about making him all of his favorite cookies." She paused for a moment, maybe his favorite Christmas cookies weren't the same as they used to be. "Does he still love peanut butter cookies, snickerdoodles and iced sugar cookies?"

"Of course!" Anne nodded with a hint of a smile. "Don't forget the gingerbread though."

"Of course not." Buffy nodded. "and maybe I will throw in some Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies too."

Anne smiled a little more, it had been a long time since Angel had Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies and she knew he loved them. "That sounds perfect, sweetie."

Buffy nodded again then reached for the iPad in her Grandma's lap and replaced it with the wrapped sandwich from the deli. "Here grandma." She said, as she touched the Candy Crush icon and the app opened instantly. "You need to make sure you are actually touching the icon."

"Oh, well!" Anne smiled as she unwrapped her meal. "Will you look at that!"

Buffy shook her head and set the device down between them. "I can't believe he told you about the kiss."

"He told me about Lover's Lane too." Anne revealed before taking a bite of her sandwich.

Buffy looked down at her food, shocked but it quickly turned into a smile. It must have meant something to Angel if he told her grandma about it.

0o0o0

Buffy looked around the parking lot in front of the building Angel lived in, worried that he wouldn't be home. She readjusted the several boxes of cookies in her hands as she spotted Angel's large black convertible across the parking lot. She made her way up the stairs and stopped in front of his apartment door. She knocked on the door and waited a moment, Angel opened the door, pausing for a moment before giving her a smirk. Angel grabbed her and pulled her to him quickly as he kissed her passionately and closed the door without breaking away from her. He guided her further into the living room, taking the boxes one at a time from her and setting them on the nearest surface.

Angel briefly broke away from the kiss after several moments. "Hey."

"Hey." Buffy said back with a smile.

Without another comment he continued kissing her, Angel placed his hands on her waist as their passion quickly grew, he picked her up and her legs instantly wrapped around his waist. Angel's hands roamed under the back of her light pink t-shirt as he walked over towards the curtain dividing the living room from his bedroom.

To be continued…


	6. Reconnecting

My classes start back up on Monday and because I'm not finished yet, I will try to fit some writing in on any down time I have this semester. Thank you for the reviews!

Chapter 6: Reconnecting

Buffy stretched tiredly, a small smile played across her lips, she felt more content than she had in years. Her whole body hummed, she felt warm all over and truly happy. She didn't want to open her eyes yet in fear that the feeling would disappear somehow, but she felt as if someone was watching her. She felt déjà vu as she opened her eyes to see Angel smiling down at her.

"Good morning." He smiled before giving her a kiss.

Buffy moaned as she stretched again. "Morning." When she brought the cookies over the night before she didn't intend to stay very long, and she definitely didn't expect to stay all night. She tilted her head when she felt something laying against her chest. Looking down she saw whatever it was, connected to a chain around Angel's neck. She ran her fingers down the chain until the object was in her hand. "Is this…"

"The Claddagh ring you gave me." He finished for her, nodding. "I couldn't wear it while I was deployed so I put it on the same chain as my dog tags, but I never stopped loving you, Buffy."

Buffy bit her lip as tears began to gather in her eyes. "Me too. I never stopped loving you either."

Angel smiled brighter before kissing her again. "You know, I didn't even ask why you came over. I'm happy you did though!"

"I brought you cookies." She laughed. "The oreo chocolate chip cookies are still warm…" she paused for a moment and smiled shyly. "…or at least they were warm."

"You made me oreo chocolate chip cookies?" He smiled as he hopped over her to get out of bed, he grabbed a pair of black sweat pants near his bed and quickly put them on. He tied the curtain divider back before making his way to where the pink cookie boxes from Anne's Bakery sat on the arm of his couch. He opened the box still smiling when he saw the several types of cookies she had made him. "You really do love me."

Buffy shook her head laughing as Angel made his way back to the bed with the boxes in his hands. "What are you doing?"

"Breakfast." He smiled taking a bite out of his all-time favorite cookie, there was just something irresistible about the delicious cream combined with the chocolate chip cookie. They were even better while they were still warm. He had been addicted to the heavenly cookie ever since the first time Buffy made them for him. She had woken up early one day before school to make him the cookies the day of the first football game of the season. They weren't officially a couple at that point but it became a tradition for her to bake him cookies on game days. They often used to joke that this cookie was the reason he fell in love with her, but he knew he had loved her the moment he laid eyes on her.

"You are actually a doctor, right?" She raised her eyebrows. "You have got to be the least healthy doctor in the world."

"It's an addiction." He chewed the cookie with a smile before kissing her. "And you are my supplier."

"How about some real breakfast?" She asked hoping he would cook for her. Although she had yet to experience his new found cooking skills since seeing him again her mother, father, grandmother and Willow had all raved about how well he had learned to cook in her absence. Oz had simply nodded in agreement with Willow, while Xander got extremely excited at the mention of the Army Veteran's culinary skills.

Angel nodded while finished off another cookie from the pink box. "What are you going to make?"

Buffy gasped mockingly. "Excuse me? I'm a city girl, we get our breakfast from the food carts on the street." Then she shrugged. "Or there is this amazing little bakery down the street from my apartment… either way, I don't cook and I heard you, mister, do."

"Oh, no." Angel smiled as he looked up at the ceiling. "Who ratted me out?"

Buffy smiled back at him when he lowered his head to look at her. "Take your pick from anyone I hold near and dear from this town."

Angel pouted playfully shaking his head. "I'm a single guy who hadn't been grocery shopping in a while, I think all I have is eggs."

"What happened to your lifetime supply of hot dogs and cookies?" She asked seriously.

"I told you the hot dogs were for a party." He said then shrugged. "…and I already ate the cookies. Come on…" He said reaching his hand out to her as he got back up from the bed. "Let's see what I have."

Gathering the maroon sheet around her body, she put her hand in his so he could help her up. They held hands as they walked the short distance to the kitchen. Angel pulled open his old refrigerator door, the refrigerator looked like it was from the 1940's, if not older than that. He peered in, still not dropping Buffy's hands. "See, eggs"

Buffy shrugged. "You also have beer."

"Do you want eggs and beer for breakfast, Baby?" He smiled over at her.

Buffy smiled when he called her baby. "Scrambled or sunnyside up?"

Laughing he pulled her towards him, once again kissing her. "Why didn't we do this sooner?"

Buffy assumed he meant having sex, she bit her lip before responding. "I had to make sure you were single."

He smiled at her, pulling her even closer. "Why didn't you just ask me?"

"Oh, but that would have made sense!" She joked. "I asked everyone I could, they all said they were pretty sure you were single because you hadn't mentioned anyone but I didn't know for sure until last night when I asked my grandma. Wait, did you ask anyone if I was single?"

Angel tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear, and nodded. "Doyle."

"Huh?" She asked confused.

"My best friend." He smiled then narrowed his eyes at her playfully. "He's a P.I. I will admit, I was terrified you would be married and I was so relieved when he said there was no record of it. Then I was thinking a boyfriend, I had a slight panic attack when he showed me some surveillance camera footage of you with a guy at the airport in New York. Imagine my relief when he stayed in LA!"

"You sound so creepy right now." The blonde laughed.

"I know." He wiggled his eyebrows then turned serious. "Who is he?"

Buffy laughed even harder. "His name is Ford, I met him at the airport. He literally ran into me. Other than spending 7 hours with him, I don't even know him."

"Good." He smiled, kissing her softly. "You are completely single then?"

She pursed her lips and sighed. "Maybe…" She paused when the clock on the wall caught her attention. "Oh, crap!" She quickly turned away from Angel, gathering the sheet in her hand. "I have to go. I am going to be so late, I have to do the walk of shame in order to get ready for the day, but…" She turned around and smiled. "Maybe if you gave me your number I could do the walk of shame again sometime…"

"I like the sound of that." Angel smiled holding his hand out for her phone.

0o0o0

Buffy shut the car door as quietly as possible, made her way up the steps and unlocked the front door to her grandma's house. The walk of shame was a lot different than it was when she was younger, her mother wouldn't be there to call her out on it after she had been up all night waiting for her. She wouldn't have to explain anything to anyone, she was an adult now! Suddenly she froze in front of her grandma's bedroom when she heard her name being called. She cringed as she slowly turned towards the door, opening it cautiously she stepped inside to see her grandma sitting up in bed.

"Good morning." Anne said seriously. "Aren't those the clothes you were wearing yesterday?"

Buffy bit her lip but stayed quiet.

"Where were you all night?" Her grandma eyed her closely, she had already dealt with all this before with her own daughters. After a few moments of silence, Anne knew she wasn't going to get anything out of her granddaughter. "Well, wherever you spent the night it better have been with Angel." Buffy looked at her grandma in shock but Anne just continued. "I don't know if you are aware of this or not, but about seven years ago they opened an orphanage down on Meadow Street."

Buffy shook her head, she was a little confused about where her grandma was going with this.

"Well, funding has been a little tight lately and there is talk of Mayor Wilkins shutting the place down." Anne continued. "I have been trying to help out as much as I can, I had a coat drive box in the bakery for a while."

"He's going to shut down an orphanage?!" Buffy was shocked that anyone could be so cold hearted, but then again Mayor Wilkins was never the most caring person in the world. "How many kids live there?"

"There are only four children left now, most of the kids have been adopted and they aren't allowing anymore to come in but these four kids have been there since it opened seven years ago." Anne explained. "It's sad really, they are all very nice kids."

"Can we do anything to stop it from closing?" Buffy asked. "Maybe a bake sale to raise money?"

Anne smiled, Buffy had always had such a big heart. Having ties to the community might also help keep Buffy in Sunnydale, she knew once her granddaughter met the children at Sunny Orphanage she would instantly fall in love with them. "That sounds great!"

"I'm going to go downstairs to grab you something to eat then shower and head to the bakery." Buffy told her before she turned to get ready for the day. "I will get started on the plans for the fund raiser during some down time. Xander is going to stop by a little later to see if you need anything, if you need something before I leave just let me know."

"I don't suppose you will tell me where you were last night…" Anne raised her eyebrows knowing very well that Buffy wasn't going to tell her.

Buffy smiled and shook her head.

0o0o0

While Buffy was baking all of the cookies and pastries before she opened the bakery she got an idea, until she planned out the bake sale fund raiser she put a container on the counter by the cash register. During the day she had to empty the container several times, putting the money into an envelope to donate to the orphanage. She hadn't counted it all but she was sure there was at least $300. As she worked she started to think of other ways she could raise money.

After the last rush of the day Buffy began wiping down the counters, there should be a few more usual's coming in before she closed down for the night. She started to think about Christmas, there were seven more days until Christmas and she still needed to go shopping for everyone. She looked up when she heard the bell above the door ring to see Angel walking in.

"Hey you." She smiled. "What are you doing here? Finish the cookies already?"

"No, I still have a few left." Angel laughed. "They were really good though. I just happened to be walking by and I saw you in here. I didn't know you had reopened the bakery."

"My grandma asked me to reopen a few days ago." She told him. "She's been losing money since she got hurt."

Angel nodded, he understood that she couldn't afford to lose out on any more money and the people of Sunnydale had missed the baked goods of Anne's Bakery. Buffy was the perfect person to step into Anne's shoes while she was recovering. "I went to check on your grandma earlier, she seems to be healing very well. I had also hoped to see you while I was there."

"Oh? What's up?" She asked.

"Can I get a couple Danishes?" He asked, pulling out his wallet. "I was going to ask you if you would like to come back over tonight."

"For here or to go?" Buffy asked as she got into the display case where the danishes were.

"Here." He smiled. "So?"

Buffy put two cheese danishes on a white glass plate, she knew Angel liked coffee with his Danish so she poured him a cup without him saying he wanted one. "I don't know if I should, doesn't grandma still need someone to be with her? I feel bad for leaving her alone last night."

"Fair enough, maybe you could just stop by for a visit once you get done here." He said handing her $20. "Keep the change."

Buffy smiled at him. "Maybe I can stop by for a little while." She took the change out of the drawer and placed it into the container.

Angel pointed at the container. "What is the fund raiser for?"

"Just helping some people out during the holidays." She told him.

"You are so beautiful." He whispered before leaning across the counter to give her a kiss. It was part of what attracted him to her to begin with, he could tell she wasn't just beautiful on the outside.

After a moment the two broke away and Buffy playfully slapped him in the chest. "I can't believe you told my grandma about Lover's Lane!"

Angel laughed as he walked over to the small round white table with pink polka dots. He remembered coming to the bakery in high school with Willow and Xander to hang out with Buffy, she just happened to be looking at new tables for the Bakery. Her grandma had left it up to Buffy to pick the new tables, she had picked pink polka dots with the reasoning that the tables should match the bakery boxes. "I tell Anne everything."

The blonde sat down on the other side of the table. She had some down time before the Johnson's came in for their usual baked goods. "Does that also include why you acted the way you did at the store the other night?"

"Huh?" He asked with his mouth full of Danish, then it dawned on him. "Oh! Your mom's friend Pat was around the corner of the isle, I didn't know if you wanted the whole town to know about what had happened between us."

Buffy nodded, it was true that Pat had a hard time keeping things to herself. "Well, do you…" She shook her head slightly to get her blonde hair out of her face. "…do you care if the whole town knows?"

Angel thought for a moment. He had no problem if the whole town knew that they had reconnected, in fact, the whole time they were together they were the talk of the town, most of the people in the small town loved the couple. The only thing he was worried about was once she went back to New York, he knew she had a life there and once again he would be left behind in Sunnydale by the woman he loved. "That depends."

"On?" She questioned curiously.

Angel set down his Danish and wiped his hands on a napkin. "If you think we can make this work once you go back to New York."

"Angel…" She whispered.

The dark haired man shook his head. "We don't need to talk about it right now. Just know, I want to make this work. I don't want to lose you again, Buffy."

Buffy smiled. "I want to make it work too."

Angel smiled back at her.

0o0o0

Buffy walked down the hallway quickly as she put her hair up into a ponytail, she stopped and took a few steps back when she passed an open bedroom. Stopping in the doorway she smiled as Olivia Osbourne waddled excitedly towards her Aunt Buffy. Buffy picked the red headed little girl up placing several kisses to her face then smiled at her best friend who was still sitting on the floor with baby toys scattered around her. "Hey, Wills!"

"Hey, Buffy!" Willow pushed herself up from the floor. "Where are you just getting in from?"

"Angel's." She smiled, earning an excited look from her best friend. "What are you doing here, Will?"

"Your grandma invited us over to spend the night because Oz is out of town." Willow answered quickly, waving her hands around dismissing why she was there. "You were at Angel's?!"

Buffy nodded. "Wanna order a pizza and talk about it?"

"Duh!" Willow laughed, it used to be their ritual when they talked about boys and she was happy to fall back into their old ways.

0o0o0

"So, you were at Angel's house tonight?" Willow asked with raised eyebrows and paused before her pizza made it to her mouth, waiting for her best friend to give her all the details.

Buffy nodded with a smile.

Willow couldn't take it anymore. "Doing what?!"

"The same thing we did last night." Buffy smiled as she took a bite of her pizza.

Willow tossed her slice of pizza back into the box. "Buffy Anne Summers, you better give me details and you better do it now!"

Buffy laughed, she really missed this. The thought of moving back to Sunnydale had crossed her mind at least once a day since she had arrived, now that things were going a little better with her mom she didn't completely hate the idea of moving back. This was one of those moments when it crossed her mind, which wasn't the first time she had thought about it today. "My grandma told me to make Angel some of his favorite cookies… but I didn't…" 

"I want to know what you DID do, not what you didn't do!" Willow exclaimed. Olivia looked up on her Aunt Buffy's bed where her mom and Aunt were sitting, as she stuffed a small piece of pizza in her mouth.

"Let me finish!" Buffy laughed, playfully swatting at the red headed woman. "…then I saw him at the store and he had this cart filled with hot dogs and those gross store made cookies. You know, the ones that are really hard and taste like playdough?" Willow nodded, during her holiday party some kids brought those cookies in because Anne normally made the cookies for the party but with the bakery closed she asked her students to bring the food in. "I got back here and asked my Grandma flat out if he was seeing someone. She said no. So, I baked him all of his favorite cookies and went over to his apartment to give them to him."

"And you guys ended up talking all night and it was all romantic?" Willow asked as if she was daydreaming.

"No." Buffy smiled. "Actually, there was very little talking at all. We pretty much just jumped each other's bones. Three times."

Willow squealed excitedly as Olivia walked over to Buffy, tiredly. The blonde lifted the toddler up into the bed and laid her between the two friends. "What's going to happen now?"

Buffy shrugged. "We are just taking it day by day, but… we do want to make it work."

Willow started to squeal again until Buffy shushed her, nodding towards Olivia who was beginning to fall asleep, she whispered excitedly. "Soul mates!"


	7. Sunny Orphanage

Hey guys! Thank you so much for sticking with this story, I have been so busy with school and next week is finals week but your recent feedback encouraged me to update this story. A special thank you to ba2006, Kara103 and Jade for bringing my attention back to this story! I hope to work on it some more on summer break. I hope you like this chapter. –Angelfan15

Chapter 7: Sunny Orphanage

Buffy hummed as she put the finishing touches on a cake that someone ordered for an office Christmas party. At first she didn't know if she would be able to pull it off on her own, she used to help her grandma with large orders much like this one but she was never alone. She had completed a few other orders, a catering order and a few cakes, cookies and pastries for her own family's Christmas party tonight. She felt accomplished and proud of herself.

"Buffy!" Her mother called out as she rushed into the bakery. "What is so important that I had to rush over here?"

"Oh, Mom!" Buffy smiled, setting down the piping bag and walking into the back of the bakery. "You know that orphanage that Grandma told me about?" She asked before walking back towards her mom holding a bag. "I was trying to think of other ways to raise money for them…" She smiled brightly and held up the bag to her mom.

Joyce looked at her daughter concerned, she had no idea what was in the bag but Buffy was extremely excited about it which only meant one thing. She should be afraid.

0o0o0

"I can't believe I am doing this." Joyce cringed as she pulled the short red skirt down but it was no use. Her daughter could pull this off but there was no way she could! She almost dropped the long red metal contraption she was carrying. "I look like a sexy Mrs. Claus!" She exclaimed motioning towards the faux white fur around her neckline and around the hood that laid on her back. "I don't do sexy!"

Buffy shook her head with a smile, her dad would flip if he saw the way her mom was dressed. As they approached the grocery store doors Buffy set the two red buckets she had been carrying on the ground, then took a red metal rod set from her mother. "It's for a good cause."

"Where did you even get these from?" Joyce asked as she pulled on the skirt once again.

Tucking her blonde hair behind her ear and clipped one of the red Christmas kettles onto the chain. "I rented them from the Salvation Army."

Joyce looked at her daughter in shock, her daughters skirt was even shorter than the dress she was wearing, and the V neck was extremely low. "I have NEVER seen any of the Bell Ringers wear something like this!"

Buffy gave her mother a double take before taking the other metal rod from her mother to set up a second kettle on the other side of the door. "Oh! You meant the dresses? I bought them." She said simply. "Sex sells, mom."

"Not when you are raising money for an orphanage, Buffy!" Her mother whispered desperately, following her daughter over to the other side of the door.

Buffy handed her mom a bell and smiled. "You will see mom."

Joyce watched her daughter walked away from her towards the opposite side of the grocery store door as Oz walked up to them. "Hey." He nodded at Buffy then looked towards her mom. "Mrs. Summers." He greeted.

Joyce looked at Oz confused and a little jealous that he got to wear jeans and a red t-shirt. She watched him set down his guitar case before opening it. Buffy started to sing Jingle Bells as Oz tuned his guitar, she turned to her mom and nodded her head. Joyce began singing along and soon Oz joined in with his acoustic. She was shocked by how much fun she was having singing with her daughter but she was even more shocked by how much money they were raising! Buffy smiled at her mom as they belt out Christmas songs.

"Hey, what's this?" The blonde turned towards the voice to see Angel.

"Hey, you!" She smiled, leaning towards him for a kiss. Angel raised his eyebrows at her, she clearly didn't mind her mom knowing they had gotten back together. That was a good sigh. "Remember that good cause I told you about the other day?"

Angel nodded and took a few dollars out of his wallet, putting it into the kettle. "You must really care about this cause."

"I do." She nodded. "I thought you were busy tonight?" She wondered what his plans were that caused him not to be able to go to their Christmas party.

"Yeah." He nodded. "Just picking up some last minute items."

"Oh." Buffy nodded as he walked towards the automatic door. "Angel, can't you put more money in? I mean, you are a Doctor." She joked.

Angel laughed, taking his wallet back out. He never could say no to her. "That is true." He laughed, putting the money in the kettle before entering the store.

0o0o0

Buffy and her mom laughed as they entered the house, they had stopped at the bakery to make a few deliveries and pick up their deserts for their own party. Buffy sighed as she placed two stacked cake boxes on the kitchen island, now was as good a time as any. "Mom, you were right."

Joyce looked up from the boxes of pastries. "What do you mean?"

"About going to fashion school." Buffy told her but continued. "Even though I loved.. love fashion, it wasn't something I should have pursued, BUT I do think I was right to move. I needed to leave in able to grow up. I learned a lot being on my own and I'm proud of the person I have become. Moving to New York inspired me to become a writer, there really is so much beauty in New York."

"Oh, Sweetie." Joyce smiled, walking around the island counter, giving her daughter a hug. "I know. I have seen the wonderful and amazing woman you have become and I couldn't be more proud of you. I'm sorry I was so hard on you."

Pulling away from her mother, Buffy smiled. "Thank you, Mom."

"You're welcome, Sweetie." Joyce brushed her daughters long blonde hair behind her shoulder. "It also helps that you paid your student loans back yourself."

Both women laughed.

"I still can't believe you got me to wear this." Joyce looked down at her dress.

Buffy smiled brightly then laughed teasingly. "You should keep it, maybe dad would like it."

"Oh, Buffy!" Joyce picked up the hand towel on the counter and swatted her daughter playfully.

"Sounds like you two are getting along better."

Buffy and her mother looked up to the doorway to see Anne standing with a pair of crutches under each arm. "Grandma!" She smiled. "It's great to see you up!"

Anne nodded with a smile. "Angel came by earlier with the crutches just in time for the party tonight."

"That was nice of him, Mom." Joyce said pulling a chair over from the solarium. "but you still shouldn't be on your feet that much."

"Yeah, yeah." Anne waved a dismissive hand but used the crutches to make her way over to the chair. "What are you two up to?" She asked taking a seat.

"We brought over the yummy treats from the bakery." Buffy smiled.

Joyce nodded. "We also raised a lot of money for the orphanage. Mom, Buffy came up with the idea to become Bell Ringers to raise money. I never would have thought of that!"

"She is a very smart girl." Anne smiled at her granddaughter.

"I was thinking about buying some gifts for the kids too." Buffy told the two older women. "Mom, would you like to come with me?"

Anne turned towards her daughter with a smiled, she was happy to see the two getting along and that Buffy was asking her mother to join her.

"As long as I can change out of this dress!" Joyce exclaimed.

Anne shrugged. "You never know, maybe Rupert would like it."

Buffy looked at her mom seriously for a moment before she started to laugh.

0o0o0

Buffy and Joyce walked out of the store together with several bags, they had spent more money than they had thought but Buffy assured her that it was going to a good cause. Joyce was shocked when Buffy informed her that she was spending her own money on the presents instead of the money they had raised because that money was needed to keep the orphanage open. When they realized the mall had a gift wrapping station they decided to wrap the gifts there and take the gifts over to the orphanage. They stopped at the bakery to pick up some cookies that Buffy had baked for the children too.

"We should hurry so we can make it back to finish getting ready." Joyce told her daughter as they rushed inside through the back door. Her mother had often gone to the orphanage to drop off coats every year and once in a while Anne also made them food, they had always used the back door.

"Excuse me?" Came an annoyed sounding woman's voice. "Can I help you?"

"Oh! Yes!" Buffy said holding up a box from Anne's Bakery. "We brought some presents and cookies."

"Oh." The dark haired women said recognizing the pink box. "Hopefully we will see Anne soon, I heard she is up and about."

Buffy nodded. "Her doctor brought her over some crutches. I'm Buffy, by the way."

"Faith." The dark haired women answered then looked to Joyce. "You are Anne's daughter, right?"

"Yes, I am." Joyce smiled. "I'm Joyce, Buffy is my daughter."

"We have more in the car." Buffy pointed over her shoulder. "I hope you don't mind, we bought some Christmas gifts for the kids."

"Not at all!" Faith smiled, she was extremely grateful for any help offered to the orphanage. "Hold on, I will get someone to help you." She turned around and called out. "Hey, A!"

Buffy raised her eyebrows when she saw Angel Delaney walk in with a large pot. He set the pot on the counter, she glanced in to see more hot dogs than she had ever seen in her life. Actually, that wasn't true, she saw that many hot dogs in Angel's shopping cart.

"It's been a tough year." Angel shrugged then smiled at her. He wasn't expecting to see her because of her family's party and he defiantly didn't expect to see her at the orphanage.

"Buffy and Joyce here are about it make it a little easier." Faith told him, lightly slapping his shoulder and resting her hand there. "They brought some presents for the kids, why don't you go out and help them unload things?"

Angel nodded and smiled at Faith.

"Oh, also…" Buffy reached into her purse, pulling out pink money bag from Anne's Bakery. "I will give this to you now but we also have a bake sale planned for the 23rd."

Faith took the money bag and gasped when she looked inside. "There has got to be at least a couple thousand dollars in here!"

"Three thousand." Joyce smiled proudly at Buffy. "Buffy did it all by herself."

Buffy shook her head with a laugh. "I conned my mom into helping some."

"At the bakery and outside of the store… this is what you were raising money for?" Angel asked as they walked out to the car.

Buffy unlocked the trunk to get the presents out while her mom opened the back door to get a few things out of the back seat. "I told you it was for a good cause."

0o0o0

Buffy and Angel watched as her mom read one of Buffy's children's books to the kids. Angel told her that he bought all of her children's books for the kids and asked her to read one of the books to Connor, Dawn, Billy and Kendra. The four kids were excited to have the author of the books there to read to them, after the first book Joyce switched with her daughter.

"They are so cute." Buffy smiled as they interacted with the book.

Angel nodded and smiled as he watched the kids. "They are great. I have been volunteering here since I got back. I started coming because of Connor."

Buffy looked at Connor and then turned to look to Angel. "Who is he?"

"He is the son of a friend of mine." Angel leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. "Remember those mistakes I told you about?"

"The ones that cause the brooding?" Buffy nodded.

"His dad is one of them." Angel sighed. "He… Holtz was my battle buddy, we were deployed together. Before we were deployed I met Connor, I promised him I would take care of his dad for him because his mom had died when Connor was born. We were doing our rounds and… Holtz was hurt, pretty bad. I stabilized him but he had some complications and he didn't make it."

"That's not your fault, Angel." Buffy rubbed his arm.

"I know." Angel whispered. "I made a promise to a little boy and I couldn't keep it. Which is why I'm becoming Connor's dad."

"What?" Buffy asked, not believing what she was hearing.

Angel nodded and smiled as he watched Connor laugh with Dawn about the silly voiced Joyce was doing as she read from the book. "I'm in the process of adopting him."

"Wow." Buffy looked over to Connor, she didn't know Angel would be ready to take that step. "That's amazing."

Angel nodded again and turned to Buffy. "I wanted to do it a few years ago but legal roadblocks kept coming up. This time, it had been smooth."

Buffy smiled, he didn't give up even when things got hard. That little boy was going to have the most amazing man as his father. She turned to look at how much fun her mother was having so much fun with the kids she got an idea. "You know, why don't all the kids come over for our Christmas party?"


	8. Christmas Party

I really wanted to get this chapter out sooner but real life has gotten pretty crazy. I went on vacation to California and ended up going to Whedonopolis, which was a lot of fun! If you get the chance to go next year, you should! Now, I wanted to get this chapter posted before I go on vacation to New York at the end of the week.

Happy Christmas in July!

Chapter 8: Christmas Party

Buffy smiled as she walked up the steps to her Grandma's house where she had been staying. She opened the door and smiled even brighter when she saw her family and her friends that had become her family already there. She was excited for Connor, Dawn, Billy and Kendra to spend tonight with her family and friends. The four young children had been through enough and they deserved some happiness in their life. "Hey guys!" Buffy greeted everyone in the house. "I'm so happy you all are already here. I would like to introduce you to..." the blonde turned around as she walked and talked, pointing to a brunette girl no older than 10. "Dawn and Billy..." she continued pointing to a dark haired boy no older than Dawn, he could have possibly been related to Xander judging by his looks. Once everyone had made it into the living room the four kids stood beside each other slightly nervous. Buffy stood behind the four kids, smoothing Kendra's dark curly hair with her hands. "This is Kendra." Angel smiled at Buffy, placing his hands on a young boy with shaggy brown hair's shoulders. "And this here is Connor"

Anne smiled at the couple as they stood with all four children from the orphanage, each one of the six individuals held a special place in her heart.

"They are our new awesome friends and they are going to hang out with us tonight."

"Splended!" Rupert cheered and clapped his hands together once. He had heard of Connor but had never had the privilege to meet the young boy who had captured Angel's heart.

"So, why don't we get this party started?" Faith smiled from her spot leaning against the living room door frame.

0o0o0

From her place in the kitchen, Buffy watched Angel and Faith carefully as they played Christmas Charades, as she places more cookies on a platter. She wondered if they had ever dated. The pair seemed to know each other very well and made a good team during the games they played, much like herself and Angel did so many years ago. Now, she had to admit, she was a little scared to try to be Angel's partner because she didn't think they would have the same connection they once had.

Placing the cookie platter over by the kids, she made her way back to the kitchen to refill the veggie platter. If they were going to have so many sweets then they would need something healthy too. Everyone had such a great time with the kids- they ate dinner, dessert, sang songs, and now were playing games and snacking.

Angel glanced up from the game and saw Buffy setting some broccoli on a cutting board. He picked up his empty glass and walked from the Solarium to the kitchen, setting the cup on the counter and putting his arm around Buffy's waist.

"Hey." She looked at him briefly before going back to cutting the broccoli. "Did you need something? Sorry, I'm kind of falling behind, I'm normally better at this."

"No." He shook his head before placing a kiss on the side of her head. "I don't need anything. Are you going to join us soon?"

Buffy glanced up at him again, the kiss he placed on her head was very gentle and sweet. "I'm just doing my hostess thing."

"You don't have to though." He shook his head. "Everyone has plenty of cookies and snacks."

Buffy watched the kids laugh at something Xander said. "I just want the kids to have a good time."

"They are." He reassured her. "Although it's getting kind of late, they will need to go back to the orphanage soon."

She quickly looked from the kids to Angel, she didn't want the kids to leave already. She liked all four of the young kids. "Can't they spend the night? We have enough room."

"Uh... I..." Angel pursed his lips and shook his head. "I guess that would be up to Faith and your Grandma."

"Can you ask Faith?" Buffy asked quietly. "I will ask my Grandma, but I know she will be cool with it."

Angel grabbed a piece of broccoli off the cutting board, he looked at it for a second before finally putting it in his mouth. He was really more of a sweets person. "Why do I have to ask Faith?"

"You know her!" Buffy exclaimed. "I just met her today, she seems cools but you have known her for a while."

Angel shook his head with a smile. "At some point you will have to become a big girl and ask people questions on your own."

"I am a big girl!" Buffy pouted.

Shaking his head again, Angel dropped a quick kiss to her lips. "Sure you are."

0o0o0

"Hey, you." Willow smiled at her best friend as she placed her empty plate on the counter next to Buffy. "Are you hiding in here?"

Buffy shook her head. "Of course not! I'm just trying to make sure there is enough food."

Willow nodded and looked over to the four children that had come home with Buffy. "They certainly do eat a lot."

"Speaking of children." Buffy smiled and nodded towards Olivia who was half asleep with her head on Oz's lap. "It looks like yours is about to pass out."

"It is past her bed time." Willow smiled at her daughter, she was the best thing to ever happen to her. Willow looked over at Buffy, the blonde was no longer looking at Olivia, instead she was looking at Angel talking to Faith near the corner of the room. Willow was a little taken back by the fact that Angel had his hand on the small of Faith's back.

After a moment, Buffy took a deep breath but didn't look away. "Do you think those two..."

Willow raised her eyebrows. "I don't know... As much as I don't want to bring up where his hand is..."

Buffy pouted. "That's why I asked."

"What do you think they are talking about?" Willow wondered.

Buffy was about to answer her when Angel turned around and started making his way towards the blonde and redhead.

"Faith said yes." He smiled. "As long as it's okay with everyone that is going to be here and the boys sleep separate from the girls."

Buffy smiled brightly. "I'm sure Grandma will be fine with it and we have enough rooms for the boys to have one and the girls to have another."

0o0o0

Anne was extremely happy that the children were going to spend the night. She had the perfect amount of rooms for the girls to have a room, the boys to have a room and for Faith to have her own room. The brunette needed to stay because the four young children were under her care but Anne could tell the way Buffy kept watching Faith and Angel together that her granddaughter was slightly worried about the two dark haired friends.

Buffy showed Connor and Billy to their room before showing Dawn and Kendra to their room, then finally she showed Faith to the last spare room, while Angel helped her Grandmother back to her room. Buffy made her way back to her room, she didn't know if Angel would come to say goodbye after he helped her grandmother, so she started getting ready for bed.

Twenty minutes later, Buffy sat on her bed rubbing lotion on her hands when she heard a soft knock on her door. Angel opened the door before hearing a reply and smiled at her. "Hey there, Love."

"Hey." She smiled back at him. "You heading out?"

"Actually…" Angel sat beside her as she finished rubbing the lotion on her hands. "Connor asked me if I could stay too."

Buffy nodded. "Of course, I can get you some blankets and pillows." She told him as she got up from the bed. "Does he know you are adopting him?"

"Yeah." He smiled at the blonde. "He's excited but sad to leave his friends."

"Aww." Buffy gave him a sad smile. "It must be hard to leave them, he has been with them for years, right?"

Angel nodded. "I'm still house hunting, I want to get the perfect house for us."

"You will." Buffy nodded as she sat back down beside him. "And you are going to be a great dad."

"Thanks." Angel smiled sadly. "I really want to do right by Connor… and Holtz."

Buffy placed her hand over his. "You will. You are doing a really great thing, Angel. Just seeing you two together tonight, he really loves you."

"The feeling is mutual." He smiled as he clasped her hand in his. "You know, just because Connor asked me to spend the night doesn't mean I have to sleep in the boy's room."

Biting her lip, Buffy laughed. "Oh, really?"

He nodded before placing a soft kiss to her lips.

0o0o0

Buffy sneaked quietly into her bedroom and shut the door behind herself gently as Angel hung up his cell phone. "They are all sound asleep, who was on the phone?"

"Just checking up on a patient." He tossed his phone on Buffy's bed beside him.

"This late?" Buffy asked.

Angel nodded. "He has insomnia, there have been many late night phone conversations with him."

"Mmmm, and he is all good tonight?" She asked softly as she playfully climbed into her bed beside him.

Angel simply nodded again as he closed his eyes.

"Tired?" She asked, laying her head on his chest.

A small smiled spread across his face, but he didn't open his eyes. "I could sleep. So many kids takes a lot out of you."

"Yeah, they do." Buffy played with the white tank top he was wearing. "Angel…"

"Hmmm?"

Glancing up at Angel's face from her place on his chest, she paused for a second. "What's going to happen to Dawn, Kendra and Billy if the orphanage closes?"

Taking a deep breathe, Angel frowned. "According to Faith the kids will need to be moved somewhere else. More than likely foster homes in surrounding towns. Orphanages don't really exist anymore, there is only one here in Sunnydale because Faith has an in with Mayor Wilkins. When she was younger, Faith jumped around from foster home to foster home until she ran away when she was fifteen and no one actually cared enough to look for her. She found herself in Sunnydale, met Mayor Wilkins and he took her under his wing. She didn't want other kids to fall through the cracks like she did, so she started The Sunny Orphanage."

"Wow." The blonde whispered. "That's horrible, but at the same time it's great that Faith would want to help other kids. Question though… if Faith and the Mayor are so close then why would he be closing the orphanage?"

"He has been keeping it going for as long as he could." Angel told her as he wrapped his arm around her waist, resting his hand on her hip. "They have to make cuts though. The money you and your mother raised will help out a lot. That money will keep the doors open for a little longer."

"It's heartbreaking." Buffy whispered, as Angel began rubbing her back softly. "Those poor kids."

"I know." He whispered, placing a kiss to the top of her head. "We will figure out something."

0o0o0

The next morning Buffy woke up early, she wanted to do something special for the kids. She felt horrible that the kids had gotten so close and if the orphanage closed the children would need to split up. She just didn't know what she could do to help them. When Buffy needed to think she would often cook, so she found herself making pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausage and hash browns. Buffy thought she heard a noise behind her, quickly she spun around, startled. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw a small dark haired girl standing before her. "Dawn, good morning! You startled me."

"Sorry." The young girl whispered.

"Don't be sorry." Buffy smiled, holding her arms out to give the girl a hug. "I scare easily."

"Me too." Dawn whispered to the blonde. "Connor and Billy say that I'm a big baby."

Buffy gasped. "You are not a big baby, Dawnie. Everyone gets scared sometimes, even boys. Like, Xander! He's always getting scared. One time, Xander screamed and ran away when he saw a spider."

"Did you kill the spider, Buffy?" Dawn asked, she has a feeling Buffy wasn't a big baby.

"Me?" Buffy questioned with large eyes. "You have got to be kidding me! I was running away with Xander and yelling for Angel! Of course, Angel came and saved us all. He always did."

"Angel saved you?" Dawn asked in awe. "Like a knight in shining armor?"

Buffy smiled and nodded at the young girl. "Exactly like a knight in shining armor. Angel was my prince charming."

"Wow!" Dawn smiled, then became serious. "But… prince charming and Cinderella were together forever."

"Well, Dawnie." Buffy sat down on the bar stool in the kitchen as Dawn sat beside her. "As much as we want it to, real life doesn't always turn out like the fairytales."

Dawn nodded to let Buffy know that she understood. "I still think you are like Cinderella, Buffy… and Faith, she is like Sleeping Beauty. She gets prince charming too and she LOVES to sleep!"

Buffy smiled at the young girl. "Are you hungry, Dawnie? I made pancakes!"

Dawn smiled and nodded excitedly.

0o0o0

Anne was grateful that Angel was still there the next morning, not only because he was spending time with her granddaughter but because he allowed her to have some extra time out of bed under his watchful eye. She smiled as she sat on the loveseat sipping her tea, she watched Buffy and Angel eating breakfast with Connor, Billy, Dawn and Kendra. The six of them seemed so happy, talking and laughing. She suspected that Faith was happy to have spent the night where someone else could watch over the children for her, the young woman certainly liked her sleep.

Buffy took a bite of her pancakes before smiling at Angel. "What do you have planned for today?"

"I have an appointment to look at a house today." He answered before taking a sip of his coffee. Buffy was good at a lot of things, one of those things was making a great cup of coffee. She always claimed that she never did anything special to it but he was positive he had seen her put a small amount of cinnamon in it.

"That's exciting." She smiled.

Angel took a deep breath. "At this point, I have looked at so many houses I think I might run out of houses in Sunnydale."

"Are you thinking of looking at houses outside of Sunnydale?" Buffy asked, moving a piece of pancake around on her plate.

Angel shrugged. "I hadn't thought of looking at anything outside of Sunnydale, I don't want to take Connor away from his school, friends… and Faith, if it can be helped."

"If we can't find a house in Sunnydale we could always move away, I could visit my friends on weekends. We would have to take Faith with us, of course." Connor smiled at Angel.

"Of course." Angel smiled at the boy he was going to adopt. "She would just follow us anyway."

0o0o0

"Hurry up!" Buffy shouted with her back turned to the backyard. "Ready or not, here I come!" She spun around quickly with a suspicious smile. She had been playing hide n' seek with Kendra, Billy and Dawn for over an hour, she felt as if they had hidden in every possible spot but the three kids always seems to find a new place she didn't think of.

The blonde looked around the backyard for the kids when she heard someone laughing. She looked towards the back door and smiled at her best friends. Willow was giggling with Olivia on her hip while Xander leaned against the door frame, his arms crossed over his chest and a smile playing on his face. "I don't know who's having more fun… you or the kids." Xander picked at her.

"Haha." Buffy mock glared at him before scanning the backyard again. She thought she saw movement behind one of her Grandma's giant planting pot.

Willow walked further out into the yard, peaking around the yard for the children. "You always where more of a kid than…" Willow was cut off as Buffy quietly creeped up beside the large pot, before grabbing Kendra and tickling her. Willow placed Olivia on her unsteady feet, smiling as she watched Buffy laugh with the young girl then run over to the patio table where Billy was hiding. It wasn't long before she found Dawn.

Xander pushed himself away from the door frame. "I could use a snack."

The blonde turned to her three new friends and smiled. "How about we all grab a snack?"

All of the kids shouted in agreement before running inside behind Xander. Buffy smiled at her Goddaughter and held her arms out to her. Olivia ran as fast as she could to Buffy's arms, the blonde kissed her little cheek. "Do you want a snack too Pretty Girl?"

"She has been waiting to see you all day!" Willow laughed. "Olivia is really going to miss you when you go back to New York."

"Well, let's not think about that right now." Buffy looked to the small girl in her arms and smiled. "Let's live in the now."

Xander nodded in agreement. "And in the now, I want food!"

Buffy laughed, giving Olivia one last kiss, she handed the small girl back to her best friend. "How about I put something together for everyone to snack on?... Can you guys entertain the kids while I do?"

Willow nodded and made her way into the dining room with the kids while Buffy got some cups out. It was pretty hot outside and after all that playing they all needed to hydrate. She wouldn't say no to coffee either, so she switched on the coffee maker before pouring some lemonade into the cups before taking the drinks to the kids.

"Do I smell coffee?" Willow asked as Buffy placed the cups in front of each one of the kids.

Buffy nodded. "I feel like I'm lagging."

"Up late?" The redhead smiled at her blonde friend.

Buffy nodded again as she sat down next to Willow. "With Angel." The blonde paused for a second then added, "… talking." She knew how her best friend's brain worked, but this time, her best friend wouldn't be wrong. "…mostly."

Willow giggled. She was so happy that Buffy and Angel were back together. She was hoping maybe the couples reunion would be reason enough for Buffy to move back to the small town. "Did you happen to talk to him about his relationship with a certain brunette we both know?"

Buffy looked at the other end of the table at the three children who were currently playing a game of Go Fish with Xander. "No, no, no." Buffy leaned closer to the redhead and whispered. "But… Dawn did say something earlier at breakfast that made my brain go a mile a minute, you know how my brain goes all crazy, but anyway. We were talking about how Angel and I were together before and he was my prince charming, and she said I was like Cinderella and Faith was Sleeping Beauty and we both got Prince Charming."

"Did she mean you both get _A_ Prince Charming or you both get Angel?" Willow whispered.

Buffy shrugged. "I don't know! That's what made my brain go…" Buffy held her hands up to her head and started motioning in circles.

"I don't blame you!" Willow exclaimed. "Did you ask her what she meant?"

The blonde gave Willow a pointed look earning a nod from the redhead. "Okay, you are right. She's just a kid." Willow sighed looking over at the dark haired girl. "Speaking of, Faith seems to be MIA."

"She is still sleeping as far as I know." Buffy let out a sigh too before getting back up when she spotted Olivia's diaper bag on the couch in the other room. She got up and grabbed a pink sippy cup from the bag. "The girls said she was sleeping when they came down and she has yet to grace us with her presence." Buffy gave the sippy cup to the young girl on her way back into the kitchen. She knew Xander would make a remark if she didn't get them some food soon. She quickly got a few items out of the cupboards to make the snacks.

"Mornin' B!" Faith stretched as she walked into the kitchen.

"It's Buffy." She told the dark haired woman. "…and it's afternoon."

Looking around the room she saw Billy, Kendra and Dawn playing cards at the table. "Where's Connor?"

"He's with Angel." The blonde told her. "They went to look at a possible house."

Faith nodded while pouring herself a cup of coffee. "Forgot about that. I was supposed to go with them."

"They were going to make a day out of it… lunch and a movie." Buffy informed the brunette, quickly glancing at her then back to the snack she was making for the children. "I'm sure if you give Angel a call you can meet up with them."

"I really shouldn't leave the kids with you." Faith told her, looking in a few drawers until she found a spoon to stir her coffee.

Raising her eyebrows at the brunette, who still hadn't turned back around to look at the blonde, Buffy had been taking care of the three children since Angel and Connor had left after breakfast. "Who would the kids have been with if went originally?"

"My best friend, Lilah." The brunette told her, finally turning in Buffy's direction across the kitchen. "She's great with the kids and they love her. I think I will give her a call and have her meet me at home and I can meet up with Angel."

"You know…" Buffy shrugged. "I really don't mind having the kids here. My Grandma really likes having them here too. She loves having kids in the house."

Faith thought for a moment, then called to the three kids. "Yo, munchkins!"

Dawn, Kendra and Billy quickly ran to the kitchen at the sound of Faith's voice. "I'm going to go meet up with Angel and Connor, I'm gonna call Lilah to watch you."

Dawn and Kendra frowned, while Billy rolled his eyes. Willow and Xander walked up behind the three kids. "Aww, you guys are leaving already?" Xander asked, he was sure he could beat them at Go Fish if they could play a few more games.

"I wish you could stay longer." Willow said with a sad smile. "Olivia loves you guys."

Buffy smiled. She probably shouldn't say anything with the chance of Faith getting upset but she really wanted them to stay longer. "Or, maybe you could stay here and they could pick you up when they are done…"

The three kids got very excited and started to jump up and down, shouting in excitement.

"Okay, okay!" Faith rolled her eyes. It wasn't that she didn't like Buffy, she thought Buffy was a nice person and Buffy seemed to care about the kids but she just got a stab of jealousy when it came to the kids and Angel with Buffy.


	9. Consideration

This story is officially finished! I have all of the chapters written and I will post them as soon as I can.

Chapter 9: Consideration

Buffy sighed as she cleaned the counter in the Bakery, when the kids had left the other day she suddenly felt like the house was too quiet. She hadn't been able to see them again since Faith and Angel had picked them up and she missed them. She was starting to wonder if all those little talks with her Grandma about having a baby was starting to get to her. Lost in her thoughts, Buffy didn't hear the door open.

"Hey, Love." Buffy looked up to see Angel standing by the door.

"Hey." She gave him a small smile. "What's up? I thought you had an appointment to go look at another house tonight."

Angel nodded making his way over to Buffy. "I do." He dropped a light kiss on her lips and smiled.

"Faith going with you again?" She asked.

Angel shook his head. "Faith wasn't very much help looking at the houses the other day. The stuff I liked about the house she would make comments about what she didn't, like she would be the one living there. But, I'm going to take a second look at a house and I was kind of hoping…" He smiled leaning against the counter. "… that you would take a look at it with me."

"Really?" Buffy asked, setting the wet clothe on the counter.

"Of course, Buffy." Angel smiled, pulling her close to him. "You're opinion means a lot to me and picking the perfect house is important."

"If you really want me to…" Buffy shrugged. "I will go with you."

"Great!" He laughed before kissing her again. "The appointment is in 45 minutes and it's on the outskirts of town so we better get going."

Buffy shook her head, laughing, she would need to close up a little early in order to go with Angel to look at his possible future home that he would share with Connor. She didn't mind closing early at all if it meant spending time with Angel. She hadn't been able to see him for two days and it made her realize how much she still loved him. Going back to New York may not be an option anymore, she walked away from Angel once, she didn't think she could do it again.

0o0o0

The Reality Agent gave the blonde an odd look as she got out of the passenger seat of the black car, that wasn't the woman he had with him just a few days ago. Mr. Angelus had told her that he liked this house and wanted to take a second look at it because he thought it would be a great fit for his family. She found herself wondering which one of the woman he was with. She politely greeted the couple and unlocked the front door for them.

Buffy looked around the empty living room, there was a staircase almost directly in front of the door. Angel put his hand on the small of her back and guided her through the living room into the kitchen. Buffy smiled at the sight before her. The kitchen was always her favorite room in a house, she picked her apartment in New York based on the kitchen and office space. "I love this breakfast nook! I have always wanted one but my apartment doesn't have space for it…" Buffy scrunched up her nose. "I actually eat in my office a lot."

Angel smiled at her rambling. "You really like it?" Buffy nodded. "This was one of the things I liked about the house too, Faith didn't like it."

"Why wouldn't she like it?" Buffy questioned. "It's so cute and intimate. It's multi-functional, you could eat here, play games, do crafts… Connor could do his homework here."

Angel nodded, putting his arm around her waist, he pulled her closer. "You make a very good point." He kissed her softly. "Come on." He walked with her upstairs and into decent sized room that was painted light blue. "This would be Connor's room." Angel pointed to a doorway on the far side of the room. "What I really like is this…" walking through the doorway he revealed a bathroom with a door on the other side of the small washroom. "It connects to the other bedroom."

"I like that too!" Buffy smiled.

Angel motioned for her to take his hand as he walked out of the bedroom that would be Connor's and down the hallway to a large bedroom. He turned around smiling. "And this would be our room." Angel paused for a second. "…You know, when you visit."

"Our room?" Buffy questioned softly.

Angel nodded. "I know you have a life in New York, but we said we wanted to make this work and with Connor being in school and all my patients I won't be able to visit you often. But you could come here as often as you want."

Angel froze when Buffy didn't respond, but it didn't take long before Buffy bit her lip and smiled. "You thought about that?"

Angel smiled. "Well, of course. I lost you once, Buffy, I don't plan on losing you again."

"I don't plan on it either." Buffy whispered.

Taking a step closer to her, he kissed her softly but it soon became heated. Angel pulled away slightly so they could catch their breath.

0o0o0

Buffy walked excitedly into The Sunny Orphanage, it had been three days since she had seen the kids and she missed them. She has been thinking about them a lot and got excited at the thought of seeing them, playing with them, and reading with them. But, when she walked into the living area the whole place was quiet, there was just a dark haired woman sitting up impossibly straight in a chair. Buffy looked around the room, she was only a few feet in front of the dark haired woman but the woman acted as if she had yet to notice her. "Um, hi…?"

The dark haired woman finally looked up at Buffy. "Yes…"

"Where is everyone?" Buffy asked.

The woman shrugged. "Around. It's not my job to keep track of them."

"Oh. Well, I'm Buffy, it's nice to meet…" Buffy said softly but trailed off when the women gave her a cold look. "Do you happen to know where exactly Faith is?"

The woman pursed her lips. "She went out, and asked me to watch the kids."

"But… if Faith asked you to watch the kids then isn't it your job to…" Buffy shook her head and took a deep breath. "Never mind. Anyway, I was wondering if I could talk to Faith about something. Do you know when she will be back?"

The woman shook her head. "She went shopping and then she was going to meet up with one of her friends."

"I was hoping to talk to her about something important… I'm sorry, I didn't get your name." Buffy tucked her hair behind her ears. She felt slightly uncomfortable around this woman, she gave off a vibe that she thought she was better than Buffy.

"Lilah Morgan." The brunette said bluntly.

"Lilah." Buffy nodded, so this was the friend that Faith said was great with the kids. She didn't even know where they were! "When Faith comes back could you let her know that I would like to talk to her?"

Lilah nodded. "Is that all?"

Buffy shook her head. "I would like to see the kids for a minute, if I could."

"Good luck finding them!" Lilah muttered and went back to looking at her magazine.

Buffy gave Lilah an odd look as she walked past the brunette, she had a feeling the kids would be outside playing in the backyard. She found it refreshing that Connor, Billy, Dawn and Kendra loved to play outside. Most of the kids in New York spent all their time playing games on some kind of electronic. She smiled when she stepped outside and saw the four children playing on the old jungle gym.

0o0o0

Buffy walked in the front door of her Grandma's house, she could hear several people talking and laughing. As soon as she closed the door Olivia came running towards her, with arms reaching out to the blonde. Buffy laughed and picked the young girl up as Willow followed the same path as her daughter. "Hey, Buffy!" The redhead greeted. "Where have you been? We stopped by the bakery earlier and you weren't there."

"I had an appointment." Buffy sighed as she walked towards her best friend, with her goddaughter in her arms. "Then I went to the orphanage."

"You went to the orphanage?" Buffy heard her Grandma's voice and looked up to see Anne sitting in the overstuffed chair with her injured leg elevated on a footstool, in the living room with Xander and Oz. "…and what appointment did you have?"

"Nineteen." Buffy teased.

"Nineteen what?" Anne asked her granddaughter.

"Questions." Oz laughed. "You already asked two."

Buffy laughed and sat beside Oz on the couch, with Olivia in her lap. "You always did get me, Oz."

Oz nodded. "I got your back."

Anne rolled her eyes and chuckled. "You didn't answer my questions."

Buffy sighed. "I went to the orphanage to talk to Faith and see the kids, but Faith wasn't there."

"You really like those kids don't you?" Willow smiled at her best friend. Buffy didn't think she was good with kids, but everyone who had ever seen Buffy with a child knew differently.

Buffy nodded at her best friend, a small smile played on her lips. "I really do."

"What about the appointment?" Xander asked, he had always been nosy when it came to Buffy.

The blonde narrowed her eyes at Xander with a teasing smiling. "If you must know, I met with Jonathan Levinson for lunch."

Buffy's grandma and her three friends were suddenly confused. The four younger adults had all gone to high school with Jonathan Levinson, he was the odd brainy kid that didn't have many friends. Buffy was always nice to him though, which at one point had put the idea in Jonathan's head that she would be interested in dating him. The friends found it funny to see Angel jealous of Jonathan back in high school when everyone knew Buffy only had eyes for Angel. Now, Jonathan was a very successful lawyer in Sunnydale. "Did you go see Mr. Levinson for business or pleasure?" Anne wondered.

Buffy paused for a moment before taking a deep breath. "Business."

"What kind of business do you have with a lawyer?" Xander asked bluntly.

Buffy worried her lip, she didn't know if she wanted to tell everyone just yet but she also knew her family and friends. There was no way they were going to let her get away with not telling them. This was a huge step she was taking in her life. "Well…" She took a deep breath again, preparing to tell them all why she went to go see Jonathan but the sound of the door opening stopped her.

"Mom!" Buffy heard her own mother call out. "We are here!"

"In the living room!" Xander called out, a moment later Joyce and Rupert entered the living room.

Joyce smiled at her daughter and her friends, it was like a blast from the past, Buffy and her friends would often hang out at Anne's house after school. Joyce would arrive at her mother's house after work and they would have dinner together. The only one missing now was Angel.

Suddenly, the three younger adults and Anne all turned back to Buffy. The way they were looking at Buffy confused Joyce and Rupert. "What is going on here?" Rupert asked the group.

"Oh." Xander pointed at his blonde friend. "Buffy here was just going to tell us why she went to lunch with Jonathan Levinson today."

Rupert raised his eyebrows in surprise as his wife sat down in the chair beside her mother. Joyce was just as interested in what was going on as the rest of them, maybe even more interested. But, what surprised Rupert even more was the next thing that came out of his wife's mouth. "I thought things were going well with Angel, Buffy. Why would you go out with Jonathan?"

"Joyce, don't be ridiculous. Buffy would not go on a date with Jonathan Levinson." Rupert reassured his curious wife. Jonathan had wanted to date Buffy many years ago in high school, Buffy was always kind to the boy, but she never wanted to be with anyone but Angel back then. He assumed his daughter still only wanted to be with Angel. He saw the way she looked at him at the Christmas party, it was clear that his daughters feelings for Angel were still there, and Angel returned those feelings.

"It was for business." Oz offered.

Rupert removed his glasses and retrieved a white cloth from his pocket before cleaning his glasses. "What type of business would you have with a lawyer here in Sunnydale?"

"Okay, fess up, Buffy!" Xander exclaimed. "Did you kill someone?"

"Yes, Xander." Buffy rolled her eyes. "I killed someone."

"Oh, oh!" Willow bounced excitedly. "Does this have anything to do with something we talked about a few days ago?"

"Possibly." Buffy commented with a smirk causing Willow to squeal.

"What on earth.." Joyce trailed off before gasping. "Buffy, are you thinking about staying?"

"I'm thinking about all kinds of things that I didn't think I would consider before." Buffy nodded as Olivia seemed to find her godmothers hands extremely interesting.

Anne smiled at her granddaughter's answer, while everyone else began to get excited.

"Is this because of Angel?" Joyce asked, trying to hide her smile.

Buffy pursed her lips and nodded as she answered. "It's Angel. It's the kids." Buffy let out a breath. "I feel like something has opened inside of me, I feel… good. When I got on that plane to come here, I didn't imagine I would feel this way. I thought New York was my home now, but since coming back… I feel different."

"Home is wherever your heart tells you it is." Anne offered with a smile.

Buffy smiled at her grandmother. "Home is where Angel is. Home is where those kids are. Which is why I went to see Jonathan…" Buffy took a deep breath. "I went to talk options… about adoption."

"You are going to adopt one of them?" Xander asked surprised. He knew Buffy cared about the kids but he didn't think she would ever consider adopting a kid.

"No." Rupert smiled admiringly as his daughter as if no one else was in the room. "She wants to adopt all of them."

Buffy laughed nervously at all of the looks she was getting from her friends and family. Xander looked shocked, her mother had a surprised look on her face, Willow's eyes were bigger than she had ever thought they could be, Oz sat nodding his head and her grandmother simple smiled. "I know, I know! It's crazy! And a LOT of work. I just can't help it, I fell in love."

"You are completely off your rocker!" Xander shouted.

Buffy laughed. "I think we have known that for years now. I can't explain it, I just want to make sure that those beautiful little kids have somewhere dependable and stable to live, they don't have to worry about anything and know that they are cared for and nothing will ever hurt them. And I miss them, God, I miss them so much after only being away from them for a short time."

"You love them." Oz said simply.

Buffy smiled. "Yeah… I do love them. It's crazy. I never knew I could love someone like I love them. I mean, I love you guys and I love Angel but this is different."

Anne, Joyce and Willow smiled as Buffy was talking, all three mother's spoke at the same time. "It's a mother's love."

Xander shook his head, clearing his mind. "So, is this really happening? Is the Buffster moving back to the Dale?"

Anne smiled brighter, her plan was all coming together. "When are you going to tell Angel?"

"So many questions." Willow laughed.

"Angel mentioned he was going to come over tonight to check on me." Anne hinted.

Buffy nodded, she knew she had to talk to Angel about everything she was thinking about. Angel loved all four of the kids, she knew he did, he wouldn't help out so much at the orphanage if he didn't. But, after adopting Connor himself, she didn't know how he would feel if she adopted the other three children. Nothing was set in stone yet, she had only went to talk to Jonathan about what she would need to do. Even though Jonathan didn't have any children of his own, that didn't stop him from reminding her how much responsibility three kids were and how much work it would be.

"Where would you and the children live?" Joyce asked, she had to admit that it was extremely crazy for Buffy to jump right into motherhood by adopting three kids but she learned from past experiences not to try to control her daughter's life. Joyce also enjoyed having the children around. "You will need a fairly large house to fit three children."

Willow nodded quickly with large eyes. "And the house that you and Angel like is only a three bedroom. There wouldn't be enough room…"

"You have picked out a house with Angel?" Rupert asked his daughter, he was shocked that he hadn't heard of this sooner.

"No." Buffy shook her head. "I just… I went to look at a house with Angel that he liked and I happen to like it too." She shrugged. "It's actually for him and Connor. If…" Buffy took a deep breath. "If it looks like I will be able to adopt them, I will look for a house."

"You are being awfully quiet over there, mother." Joyce eyed her mother, suspiciously.

Anne was sitting quietly, smiling and shrugged at her daughter. "I can't simply be happy that my granddaughter is happy?"

Joyce narrowed her eyes at Anne, she knew that look on her mother's face. Buffy often had that look when she was up to something.

Buffy also noticed the look on her grandmother's face, she would find out what the older woman was up to. Taking another deep breath, Buffy hugged Olivia closer to her. "You know, it's been a really long day and I could use a nap." At the word nap, Olivia closed her eyes as she cuddled up to Buffy, causing the blonde to laugh. "Do you want to nap with me?"

Olivia nodded, earning a dramatic sigh from Willow. "For you, she will nap!"

Buffy laughed again as she stood up with Olivia in her arms and headed upstairs to take her much needed nap, leaving her friends and family to continue discussing her life and future.

0o0o0

Buffy woke up to the feel of very familiar lips on hers, she smiled as she returned the kiss. "Hey sleepyhead." She opened her eyes to Angel smiling down at her.

"Hey." She smiled back as she gently grabbed the front of his shirt, pulling him down to her for another kiss. When they broke apart she slowly moved over in her bed, allowing Angel to lay down beside her.

"Long day?" Angel asked, holding his hand up as Buffy laced her fingers with his.

Buffy nodded. "It felt longer than it was for some reason."

"I know the feeling." He whispered, watching their two hands gently playing with each other, he placed his other hand behind the back of his head. "I missed you."

Turning her head to look at him, Buffy smiled. "I missed you too." Suddenly, her smile fell as she realized someone was missing. "As much as I love having you in bed with me, I could have sworn I had a little person in bed with me when I fell asleep." When she earned an odd look from Angel she continued. "Olivia."

Angel smiled and nodded. "Your grandma said Willow and Oz left about ten minutes ago, they must have taken her when you were sleeping." He frowned in concern. "You were in a pretty deep sleep when I came in here, are you feeling okay?"

Buffy nodded and smiled. "Sweet boyfriend."

Angel smiled again, leaning in to kiss her. He loved hearing her call him her boyfriend again, there was a time when he didn't think he would ever hear her say it again.

"I do want to talk to you about something though." Buffy bit her lip nervously. She didn't know why she was nervous, it was a good thing.

"Uh, oh." Angel's brow creased. "Is it a bad something?"

The blonde shook her head. "No… at least I don't think it is." She shrugged. "I guess it depends on how you look at it."

"What is it?" He asked worried.

"Well…" She paused for a second. "It's kind of a two parter. First, I have been thinking…"

Angel chuckled. "That's never good."

"Stop it!" Buffy laughed, playfully hitting him with the back of her hand that was still entwined with his. "How would you feel if I stayed… here in Sunnydale?"

"As in not going back to New York?" He questioned. "Living here?"

The blonde nodded. "I would have to go back to New York to get my stuff, but yeah… living here."

"Do you even have to ask?" He laughed, kissing her.

Buffy smiled brightly, and laughed.

"You said it was a two parter…" He said, still smiling. "What is the second part?"

"The second part isn't a for sure thing, but…" Buffy rolled over on her side, never letting go of his hand. "I have been thinking, a lot and… if everything goes okay, I would like to adopt Dawn, Kendra and Billy."

Angel looked at Buffy, silently, which was making her nervous. After a minute, he still hadn't spoken. "Angel, say something…"

Angel sighed. "I will have to take back my offer on the house."

Buffy looked at him confused. "Why?"

"Well." Angel replied with a small smile. "We are going to need a bigger house."

0o0o0

Willow squealed happily as she walked giddily into Anne's house with her arms filled with bags that contained wrapped gifts, she set the bags in the living room then made her way happily into the kitchen where she knew her best friend would be. It was Christmas Eve day and she knew Buffy had a lot of work to do, which was why she had decided to stop by and help her friend out. Even though she had grown up Jewish, Oz celebrated Christmas and they celebrated the holiday with Olivia. This year was even more special because Buffy was back in Sunnydale and she was staying! "Buffy!"

"Wills!" Buffy smiled from her place at the kitchen island where she was using Christmas cookie cutters to make sugar cookies. "Where's Olivia?"

"With Oz." Willow smiled brightly. "They are doing some last minute Christmas shopping for me."

"That's so sweet!" Buffy laughed as she picked the Santa cookie cutter up from the sugar cookie dough. "I was kind of hoping to see her today but there will be time to see her later. Speaking of…" the blonde eyed her redhead friend. "I thought you were coming later."

"I was going to." Willow shrugged. "But I figured you would need some help."

Buffy nodded. "You figured right." She said sprinkling a small amount of flour onto the dough. "I'm running a little late, Jonathan called me and I went to meet with him."

Willow jumped up and down happily. "What did he say?"

Giving her friend a small smirk, she replied. "Things are looking up with the adoption. Jonathan actually talked to the Mayor on my behalf!"

"What?!" Willow gasped. "What happened?"

"I don't want to go too much into it without letting Angel know the latest developments first." She quietly told her friend.

"You talked to Angel about wanting to adopt them?" Willow smiled, then added. "I take it he is okay with it."

"More than okay with it." Buffy smiled, placing the shapes of cookie dough on a baking sheet.

Willow simply nodded as she made her way over to the sink to wash her hands. "So, it is a for sure thing that the kids are going to come here for Christmas?"

Buffy nodded calmly but soon a brilliant smile spread across her face. "It's going to be amazing! Grandma is so excited to have them over too!"

"And Angel is still coming over?" Willow asked.

"Of course!" Buffy exclaimed. "It wouldn't be Christmas in Sunnydale if Angel wasn't here."

Willow laughed, picking up a cookie cutter. Buffy was right, back in high school Angel would spend Christmas Eve with Buffy and her family, go home to be with his family and then after celebrating with his family he would head right back over to celebrate with Buffy. Her family loved Angel so much that they would postpone celebrating their holiday until he arrived. "Speaking of, where is Angel?"

"He has a few appointments this morning and then he is going to spend some time with Connor." Buffy told her.

Willow frowned at the thought of Angel going to the orphanage. She knew that Angel spent a lot of time at the orphanage and with the kids but that also meant spending time with Faith. She still worried that Angel and Faith had been involved. "Did you talk to Angel about Faith?"

Buffy paused, sucking on her teeth before shaking her head. "Nope. I almost don't want to know."

"I get that, Buffy, I do." Willow nodded. "But… she is in his life. If they were involved, won't that cause issues?"

"Ignorance is bliss." Buffy glanced at her best friend. "If I know for sure that they had been involved it will always be in the back of my mind."

"But, if you don't know then won't it also be in the back of your mind?" The redhead asked.

Buffy sighed, Willow was right. It would always be in the back of her mind.


	10. Christmas

Chapter 10: Christmas

Buffy heard the front door open and several pairs of feet came running in, she smiled when four young kids ran straight to her. They were all so excited to be back and she was happy to have Connor, Dawn, Billy and Kendra back. She laughed as all the kids grabbed a cookie off the plate on the kitchen counter. "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Buffy laughed, holding her hands up to get the kid's attention. "Did you guys leave Angel in the dust somewhere?"

The kids started to laugh before Kendra nodded towards the door with her mouth full of cookie. "He's outside. Had to get something out of the trunk."

Buffy nodded, then watched all the kids run into the backyard to play. She made her way towards the front door, as Angel was coming in with a folded up wheelchair. "What'cha got?"

"For your grandma." He pointed to the chair as he placed it near the wall before giving her a quick kiss. "She made a point of wanting to move around on Christmas instead of having to stay in a chair or ask someone for help."

Buffy smiled. "She might have mentioned wanting to do that a few times." She wrapped her arms around Angel's waist. "How is she doing? I mean, really? She says she's fine but I mean medically."

"She's good." He smiled down at her. "She is healing really well, especially for someone of her age."

"Good." She whispered. "I worry about her."

"I know you do." He placed a kiss on top of her head. "She worries about you too, but I convinced her that I will keep you safe."

Buffy laughed and shook her head. "Oh, really?"

"Of course!" He laughed with her. "How was your day?"

Buffy shrugged and sat in the wheelchair, Angel shook his head this time and chuckled before placing his hands on the handles and pushing her slowly through the house towards the kitchen. "It was good. I have been baking and prepping for Christmas and taking care of Grandma. And I had another meeting with Jonathan."

Angel stopped pushing the wheelchair, circling around to the front and taking her hands in his. "How did the meeting go? Anything new?"

Buffy nodded with a smile but before she could tell him how the meeting went the four children came running back in asking for food. Buffy laughed, standing up. "I will get them some food, you go check on my grandma…" She told her dark haired boyfriend. "She has been wanting to come down but I didn't want to help her down the stairs alone."

Angel nodded, but then paused. "Why didn't you want to help her down alone?"

Buffy shrugged, letting go of his hands. "I was just feeling… blah. Didn't trust myself to get her down the stairs." She didn't know what was wrong with her, she had been feeling light headed and tired. She kept telling herself she was working too hard at the bakery and some time off and rest would make it better, but no matter how much sleep she got, it didn't help.

"Are you okay?" Angel asked for the second time in two days. "Do you want me to take a look at you, I am a doctor, you know."

"I know." She chuckled, shaking her head. "I'm fine, really."

Angel frowned as he watched Buffy and the four kids walk towards the kitchen. This wasn't the first time Buffy had mentioned she wasn't feeling completely herself, he was starting to think she was coming down with something. If Buffy was sick and with her grandma already injured, he might as well just move in to take care of them both. He pushed the wheelchair over to the bottom of the stairs and jogged up the stairs to check on Anne.

0o0o0

Angel sat down on the couch beside Buffy, her mother had noticed she wasn't feeling herself and told Buffy to sit down and relax. Joyce was in the kitchen gathering snacks that Buffy had made earlier, while the kids drank their hot chocolate. Angel put his arm on the back of the couch behind Buffy, taking her hand in his other hand. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay." She said giving him a small smile. "I wouldn't be surprised if I'm coming down with something. I have been sick the last few Christmases. I'll be fine."

Slipping his hand away from hers, Angel gently placed his hand on Buffy's forehead. "You don't feel warm."

Buffy shrugged. Something was definitely off, she just didn't know what it was. She looked towards the kids, her grandmother was in her wheelchair beside Billy trying to get him to put more candy in his hot chocolate. She remembered when she was younger, her grandmother did the same thing to her. They would put different types of goodies in the hot chocolate drink, like M&M's, Peppermint and Reese's. What she and Willow had talked about earlier was really starting to bother her. Her best friend was right, if she knew that Angel and Faith had been involved or not, it would still bother her. "Angel?"

"Hmmm?" He mumbled against her head, as he placed a kiss on her hair.

Buffy bit her lip for a moment, she didn't know how to ask him other than just coming out and saying it. She took a deep breath. "Did you and Faith ever date?"

"What?" Angel didn't expect her to say that, but then he slowly nodded. He had always been honest with her before, he needed to be honest about this. "We were… involved, at one point."

"What does that mean exactly?" She asked turning her head to look at him.

"It means…" He took a deep breath this time. "We didn't exactly date but we did sleep together."

Buffy quickly snapped her head forward. "Oh."

"It's been over for a long time, Buffy." He said, pushing her long blonde hair out of her face. "Does it bother you?"

"A little." She whispered, looking down at her hands. "But, it's not like I haven't dated other guys, I wasn't expecting you not to date. It's just… she's in your life, every day."

Angel nodded. "She won't be in my life as much once the adoption goes through. It's true that we are friends, but we met because of Connor and we only got as close as we have because of the kids. I don't have those types of feelings for Faith. And you know, I don't want any other woman in my life but you."

Buffy smiled and kissed him softly. "Yeah."

"Are we good?" He asked. He didn't want her to think anything was going on with Faith or that anything ever would happen again. He loved Buffy, she was the only one he wanted to be with.

Buffy nodded. "Oh, I never got to tell you about what Jonathan said!"

But as soon as Buffy finished her sentence Connor and Dawn ran towards them, shouting for them to play a game with them. Buffy agreed to play one game with them before they got to open one present and then it was off to bed. Santa wouldn't come if they were still awake! Buffy had gotten each one of the kids Christmas pajamas for them to open on Christmas Eve, it was a tradition in their family to get new pajama's every Christmas Eve. She wanted to do the same with the kids.

0o0o0

Angel walked into the room that Connor and Billy where sharing, he had planned to say goodnight to the two young boys but saw that Billy was already fast asleep. He smiled at Connor and kneeled on the floor beside the bed. "Hey, buddy. I was just going to say goodnight."

Connor nodded. "Can I ask you something?"

Angel nodded. "You can always ask me anything, Connor, you know that."

"You and Buffy are dating, right?" The dark haired boy asked, Angel nodded. "So, does that mean she is going to be my mom?"

Angel opened his mouth to speak but quickly closed it. Connor didn't know what it was like to have a mom and he knew the boy would love to have a mom. Buffy would make an amazing mom. "What would you think about Buffy being your mom?"

Connor smirked. "I would like it. She's really nice and she plays with us. She tells me to eat more and more because I'm a growing boy and I need to be as big and strong as you."

Angel looked around the room, as if he was making sure no one else was around to listen, he smirked back at Connor before whispering. "She tells me to eat more too, always has. Ever since I met her, she has made me yummy treats."

Connor laughed softly so he didn't wake Billy. "How long have you known Buffy?"

"A long time, Buddy." He sighed. "I met her at school."

"Was it love at first sight?" Connor asked, receiving a surprised look from Angel. "Dawn and Kendra talk about love at first sight like in the movies… was it like that?"

"You know what?" Angel smiled. "It was. One look at her, and I was a goner." He laughed quietly. "You will understand when you are older."

"I think I get it." Connor whispered. "Are you going to marry her?"

Angel smiled wider, he had thought about marrying Buffy for years and now that she was back in Sunnydale and staying in Sunnydale, it was perfect. "Goodnight, Connor."

Connor sighed, he was really curious to know the answer to his question but Angel had simply smiled. "Night."

Angel walked into the bedroom, pulling his shirt out of his pants. Buffy crawled into bed, grabbing a bottle of Tylenol as Angel unbuttoned his shirt. "Do you take those every night?" he asked her, as she opened the bottle and poured a few pills into her hand.

She nodded, putting the pills in her mouth and taking a sip of water from the cup of water.

"For how long?" He questioned.

"Just a few days." She answered before taking another sip of water. "Once they kick in, I can actually sleep. Why?"

Unbuttoning and removing his pants, he climbed into bed beside her. "You shouldn't take them long term. I would feel better if you got checked out, even if it wasn't by me."

"It's not an emergency, so if I'm still feeling icky after Christmas then I promise." She smiled. "I will."

"Okay." He nodded, laying down on the bed and holding his arms out for her to cuddle up to him. "You look exhausted, try to go to sleep." Once she laid her head on his chest, he reached up to turn the light off.

Angel smiled when he heard Buffy whisper, sleepily. "Love you."

"Love you too." He whispered, kissing her forehead.

0o0o0

Connor, Dawn, Kendra and Billy ran into Buffy's room screaming excitedly and laughing. They jumped on the bed, shouting. "Wake up, it's Christmas!"

Buffy woke up and smiled at the sound of their laughter. "Wake up, Angel… don't you know it's Christmas!"

Angel stretched his arms over his head as the kids jumped up and down on Buffy's bed. "So it is." Angel sat up, holding he hands in the air. "Okay… okay!" He raised his voice to get everyone's attention. "Let's go down stairs, your mo…" Angel stopped himself, he had almost called Buffy their mom. If all went well then next Christmas he would be calling her their mom, but for now she was still Buffy to them. "Buffy will get you something to eat while I go check on Anne." The kids and Buffy all jumped off the bed and started to run towards the door. "Freeze!"

The five of them stopped in their tracks at the sound of Angel's stern voice. "Take your time eating because we need to wait for Buffy's parents to get here."

Buffy and the four kids pouted and walked slowly out of the bedroom door. As soon as the door was shut, Buffy smiled excitedly before she took off running towards the stairs. The kids soon ran excitedly behind her.

A few moments later, Angel walked down the stairs, helping Anne to her wheelchair. "If I don't get better soon you might as well install one of those lifts on the staircase!" Anne said sarcastically.

"Anne, you are healing just fine." Angel laughed as he started to push the wheelchair towards the kitchen, until he heard excited voiced in the living room. Anne and Angel looked at each other before he shrugged and turned the chair towards the living room. Once they made it to the archway, the two saw Buffy and the four kids sitting together on the floor with their stocking dumped out on the floor. Small toys, candy and wrappers from candy that was already eaten laid scattered on the floor. "Not exactly what I meant by breakfast, Love."

Buffy smiled from her place on the floor and shrugged. "We thought it sounded good."

"Pancakes sound good to me." Angel raised his eyebrows at his girlfriend.

The blonde pouted as she slowly walked towards the kitchen and mumbled. "Pancakes sound yummy but candy is yummier."

0o0o0

Angel smiled as he watched Buffy flip a pancake, as he sat at the table with the kids and Anne. They were currently devouring the sliced fruit he had put on the table. He couldn't help but smile even bigger as he thought about the news Buffy had told him while he helped her prepare the pancake batter. He couldn't help but think his life was finally coming together, his life with Buffy was finally coming together and they were making up for lost time. Buffy calling his name brought him out of his thoughts, he glanced up at her again, seeing the now fill plate of pancakes. Angel got up to retrieve the plate for the kids to dig in.

Buffy glanced in the direction of the front door even though she couldn't see the person she just heard entering. She was sure it was her parents and they were just in time for breakfast. "Hey, Dad." She greeted him with a kiss to the cheek, then moved on to her mom. "Morning, Mom." She smiled giving her mom a kiss on the cheek. She loved that she had a better relationship with her mom, coming back to Sunnydale was one of the best ideas. "Merry Christmas. Hungry?" She asked holding up a second plate of pancakes in her hand.

"Starved." Rupert smiled, making his way over to the table where there were already plates set out for her parents.

Once everyone ate they all ran into the living room to begin opening presents. Joyce and Rupert sat on the couch together, Anne was in her wheelchair beside them and Angel sat in an overstuffed chair, with Buffy on his lap. The kids sat on the floor eagerly waiting to begin opening presents, as much as they wanted to rip through all the presents with their names on them, they were told they needed to wait patiently, and open one at a time.

Everyone opened their presents and were happy with what they had received, the kids sat on the living room floor playing with their new toys. Buffy had bought each one of the kids a handheld video game console and they were glued to them until she said she had one more present for them. She handed Kendra, Dawn and Billy each a wrapped box. Billy shook the box, it was too flat to be one of those sweater boxes that she had given them the night before with their new pajamas in them. The three kids ripped the wrapping paper and removed the lids from the boxes. Billy looked confused for a moments, while Kendra smiled and Dawn gasped in realization. Dawn looked at the other two children's gifts to see if they had all received the same thing before looking up to Buffy, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "You are adopting us, Buffy?"

Buffy smiled at the small brunette girl and nodded. "Only if you guys want to…"

All three of the kids jumped up excitedly before running over to hug Buffy. Connor smiled at the scene before him. His three friends were hugging and climbing all over Buffy who was still sitting in Angel's lap. Buffy and Angel both laughed at the kid's excitement. Connor was happy that his friends were going to be adopted too, he had been worried about what would happen to them once Angel adopted him. He knew that the orphanage was going to be shut down and once he overheard Faith telling Angel that the kids would all be separated and there was no telling if the kids would even stay in Sunnydale. Now, he would be able to see his friends because Buffy and Angel were dating.

When the three children calmed down a little, Angel wrapped his arm around Buffy's waist, then announced. "There is one more present." The children looked to Angel excitedly as he continued. "I bought this gift eleven years ago…"

"That's longer than I have been alive…" Billy whispered, amazed but slightly disappointed because it meant that it wasn't for him.

"I mowed a lot of lawns and worked a lot of overtime at the market for this…" Angel reached into his pocket with his free hand, pulling out a small box. "So, I hope you like it."

Buffy bit her lip as she looked at the box in his hand. She remembered the summer that he spent most of the day mowing lawns and the months he spent evenings and weekends working at the super market on Main Street. It was two years after she moved to Sunnydale, two years after they started dating. She remembered how dramatic she was when she would call Willow or hang out with her at the school library complaining that she never got to see Angel outside of school anymore and she just knew that something was going on, maybe he was even seeing someone else, but suddenly, it stopped. Angel didn't work at the market as much and he stopped mowing lawns, he never did say why.

Unwrapping his arm from around Buffy's waist, he opened the box. Buffy was sure her heart skipped a beat and her eyes got large, as she looked down at the ring nestled in the small black box in his hand. It was beautiful. It looked a lot like the Claddagh ring that he had given her for her birthday years before, but this time there were small pink diamonds inside the heart design. "Buffy Anne Summers, will you marry me?"

Buffy let out a shaky breath before nodded. "Yes." She whispered, tears threatening to fall from her eyes as she kissed Angel softly. "Yes, I will marry you."

Anne smiled brightly, she couldn't be any happier than she was at that very moment.

"Well, it's about time!" Buffy and Angel broke apart, turning to Rupert at the sound of his voice. Joyce had tears running down her face, but it finally dawned on her what her husband had said, she lightly swatted him. "I'm just referring to the fact that they have been in love with each other for years. He bought the ring eleven years ago, after all.

Angel shrugged. "He has a point."

0o0o0

Everyone chatted as they helped prepare Christmas dinner, the kids were all happily talking to each other about how it would be once they were officially adopted but Dawn stuck close to Buffy. Dawn had helped Buffy make the mashed potatoes, Buffy picked up a large bowl of the potatoes then walked to the dining room table with Dawn in toe holding a smaller bowl of potatoes, the small girl talking the whole way. The blonde smiled, placing her free hand on Connor's head as the boy placed the plates at each seat and Kendra went behind him placing the silver wear at each plate and Billy placed the cups. All the food was at the table, except for the meat. Angel made his way into the dining room with a platter of Turkey and Rupert followed behind him with a platter of ham. Angel dropped a kiss to Buffy's lips as he walked pasted her, then placed the platter on the table.

"And where are we going to live?" Dawn asked Buffy, as she sat beside her. Buffy laughed, the small girl could really talk!

"Yeah!" Connor agreed sitting next to Angel on the other side of the table. "The house we picked won't be big enough."

Buffy and Angel smiled at each other. "Well, we figured we all could go looking at houses together and pick one as a family."

"Or…" Angel continued. "We could rent a house until we could build our own house, that way we all get what we want in our forever home."

"Could it be like this house?" Kendra asked looking around the large dining room. "I really like it here."

Buffy smiled at the young girl. "Me too."

"I have an announcement to make, as well." Anne interrupted. "I…"

"Oh God!" Joyce cried out. "Mom's dying!"

Everyone looked around in panic, while Rupert shook his head at his wife's outburst. Buffy looked as if her heart had shattered. "WHAT?!"

"I am?" Anne asked.

"No, she's not!" Angel exclaimed, as her doctor that was something he would know.

Joyce shook her head. "Mom, why would you announce that on Christmas?"

"I'm not dying!" The older woman exclaimed, then turned to Angel. "Am I?"

"No!" He exclaimed again. "You aren't dying!"

Buffy let out a sigh of relief. "Mom, why would you say that Grandma is dying? Angel is her doctor, he would know."

"I heard it." Joyce told her daughter, then turned to look at Angel then her mother and back to her daughter. "I overheard Angel telling mom she only had a few weeks left."

Angel shook his head but let out a short laugh, Anne soon began laughing too. "That had nothing to do with your mother's health."

"No, not at all." Anne agreed with her granddaughter's fiancé. "How many times when Buffy was growing up did we tell her not to eavesdrop?" Before her daughter could answer, Anne continued. "What you had actually over heard was part of our conversation about… selling this house."

"What?" Buffy asked. "You are selling the house? Where would you live?"

"Mom!" Joyce exclaimed shocked. "You can't sell this house!"

Anne shook her head. "It's just too big for me to live here alone. Angel has been helping me find a good assistant home living facility. When Angel said a few weeks he meant before I move out. What he didn't know is… I wanted to convince Buffy…" She looked towards her granddaughter. "… to move in once I am living at the facility. And now that you will be adopting the kids, it's perfect. There are plenty of rooms here, they have just been waiting for children to fill them."

Buffy smiled, once again with tears in her eyes. "Grandma, it's perfect."

Anne smiled at her beloved granddaughter.

"You know, Anne…." Angel smirked at the older woman, glancing at Buffy and then back to her grandmother. "I don't think anyone that will be living here would mind if you stayed."

Buffy smiled at her new fiancé then looked towards the four children, they all smiled back. "He's right, grandma."

"Well, then…" Anne smiled. "If you are sure…"

Buffy and Angel nodded.

Rupert smiled as he gently rubbed his wife's back, she was so relieved that her mother wasn't dying and even more relieved that Buffy, Angel and the children would be living with her. As much as Joyce hated to admit it, her mother was getting older and it made her feel better to have someone around the house with her.

The four children looked at each other and smiled before calling out. "Best. Christmas. Ever!"

0o0o0

After tucking in the four children, Buffy and Angel went into their bedroom. Buffy sat on the bed with her back against the headboard as she looked down at her engagement ring. Angel climbed into bed beside her and smiled. "It's been such a long day. I don't know what it is about Christmas but I'm always exhausted afterwards. I feel like I just ran a marathon."

"I have done that." Buffy told him, not taking her eyes off her pink diamond ring. "A marathon doesn't have anything on Christmas."

Angel chuckled. "Are you going to stop looking at the ring long enough to even give me a kiss?"

Buffy quickly turned towards him to give him a kiss, and as fast as she had turned towards him, she turned back to the ring. "I love it."

"I'm happy that you love it." He shook his head. "But you also love me, right?"

The blonde looked towards her fiancé with a pointed look. "Duh!" She scooted down and laid on the bed, placing her hand on his chest before kissing him suggestively. "Of course, I love you." She whispered. "I always have."

"Me too." He kissed her again.

Buffy pouted. "You have had this for years…Why didn't you give it to me sooner?"

"You mean two weeks ago when you came back?" Angel teased.

Buffy shook her head. "Like when you bought it… we had talked about marriage when we were together."

"I know." He nodded. "But, after I bought it we had that discussion about college and I didn't want to hold you back. I wanted you to have everything you ever wanted in life."

"Angel, as much as I wanted to go away to school, I wanted to be with you more." She whispered. "In a perfect world you would have come with me to school, but I know that isn't realistic. We both wanted different things and even though those things didn't work out the way we wanted them to, we still found our way back to each other."

Angel nodded and whispered. "And that's what matters."

Buffy nodded too. "You know, the kids are right."

"About what?" He questioned.

Looking back down at her perfect ring, then to her perfect fiancé, Buffy smiled. "Best. Christmas. Ever!"


	11. Dreams Come True

This is the last chapter! I start my new classes in about a week but in that time I was to update at least one more of my stories, I just don't know which one yet! My goal this summer was to binge watch my shows that I missed while I was going to school, binge read as many Buffy/Angel fics I could and work on my own stories. Which, I have a new story and I have written 23 chapters already but I haven't posted any of it yet. I feel pretty good about accomplishing everything, I just wish my summer wasn't over! Anyway, on with the story!

Chapter 11: Dreams Come True

Angel stood over the kitchen table, looking at the contents on the surface. Connor, Dawn, Kendra and Billy had been living in Anne's house, the house she was giving to Buffy, since Christmas and they would be going back to school in just a few short days. Looking down at the list in his hand, Angel placed a box of markers on each pile. He was sorting out their school supplies, when they brought everything over from the orphanage it was just thrown together, so here he was sorting everything out. Buffy, being the organized person she was, made lists of everything the kids would need for school so Angel could sort everything out and if they needed anything new, they would know what to buy them. He heard the children's laughter from outside, he looked out the window to see Anne sitting in her wheelchair with the children gathered around her as she told them a story. He smiled at the sound of their laughter, although the kids had been happy with Faith, they seemed to be even happier since they moved in with Buffy, Anne and himself. He still had his apartment but he had hardly been there. The adoption process wasn't complete yet but between Jonathan and Mayor Wilkins they had worked it out that the children could move in immediately. Mayor Wilkins wanted the children in the care of, well, anyone else as soon as possible. With the children out of the orphanage they could close the place down and Faith could go back to having her own life.

Glancing up at the clock on the kitchen wall, he started to wonder where Buffy was. She had gone to the doctor's hours ago, she should be back. He was starting to worry, after Christmas Buffy still had moments when she didn't feel good and as she promised, she had gone to the doctors. From what she had told him, the doctor couldn't find anything wrong with her. The doctor had asked her to come in within a few days to run some tests, which was where she had gone earlier that morning. When he heard the door open and close, Angel tossed the paper on the table and quickly made his way towards the kitchen doorway. He smiled when he saw his fiancé. "Hey, Love. How did it go?"

Buffy sighed. "It went fine."

"Did they get the test results back?" He asked, placing a kiss to her cheek.

Buffy nodded. "How are the kids?"

"They are fine, they are in the backyard with your grandma." He told her, but he really wanted to know what the doctor had said. "What about the test results, Buffy?"

The blonde bit her lip, she didn't know how she was going to tell him. She had thought about it the whole drive from the doctors. "I really need to start on the food for the New Year's party, I don't even have a menu thought up yet. I think I'm going to take a nap first, are you okay with the kids?"

"Of course." He reassured her. "Buffy, what about…" He trailed off as he watched Buffy climb the stairs, running her fingers through her hair.

0o0o0

"Hey, baby." Buffy smiled brightly as Angel and the kids walked into the kitchen. She was in a much better mood after her nap.

Angel smiled as he kissed her. "Hey." Angel had taken the kids to the park while Buffy took a nap. They had a lot of fun, but that fun ended when the kids started saying they were hungry. Angel had taken them out for ice cream, now his fiancé was making dinner and he just hoped the kids still ate their meal. He didn't want to be in trouble!

"What are you making?" Kendra asked, looking into the pan on the stove.

Buffy smiled at the girl. "Chicken and dumplings."

Billy smiled at the woman who would soon be his mother. She was always cooking or baking something good, at the orphanage they often had hot dogs and boxed macaroni and cheese or peanut butter and jelly. "That sounds so good!"

"I'm happy you are excited about it because I'm making enough for an army!" Buffy laughed, giving him a hug and a kiss on the head before going back to her notebook to write something down quickly.

Dawn looked at the notebook on the counter, reading all the items on the paper. "What's this?"

"That is a list of food that I'm making for our New Year's Eve party." Buffy told her with a smile.

"Can I help you make it all?" Dawn asked.

"Of course, you can, Dawnie!" The blonde handed the small girl a pen. "You all can add anything you want to the list too."

The kids grabbed Buffy's notebook and excitedly made their way over to the table to add to the list.

Angel looked in the pan that Buffy was now stirring and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Is your grandma resting?"

Buffy nodded. "When I woke up she was finishing her book and said she was going to take a nap. She wants to come down for dinner though, so you will have to help her downstairs."

"I can do that." He smiled against her hair.

"Angel…" Buffy paused. "After dinner… or you know, whenever we have time, it doesn't have to be right after dinner… we need to talk."

Tilting his head so that he could look her in the face, he suddenly got serious. "Is this a good talk or a bad talk?"

"It's a talk." She said, not giving any hints away.

"Is it about what the doctor said?" He asked seriously, unwrapping he arms from around her waist.

Buffy nodded.

Taking a deep breath, Angel made his way around the island counter to the stool on the other side. He felt the need to be sitting down when he heard whatever it was that she had to say. "What is it?"

"Let's talk about it later." She said, mixing a dough in a bowl on the island counter. "I want to do it in private."

Angel had a bad feeling about this, she was acting so serious, which scared him.

0o0o0

Tonight, it seemed as if their usual bedtime ritual was taking far longer than normal. But in reality, it was the same. Everyone got into their pajama's, brushed their teeth, and they all settled down in the family room where Buffy and Angel read the four children a story, then the kids went into their rooms and Buffy and Angel tucked them in. The couple hadn't had a chance to talk after dinner, so they were going to talk once the kids were in bed.

Now, they were heading to their bedroom where they would have the much dreaded talk. Angel closed the bedroom door behind himself. "So…?"

"You just want to jump right into it, huh?" Buffy asked with a teasing smile.

Angel nodded. "I would love if this anxiety went away."

Buffy gave him a puzzled look, but let out a quiet giggle. "Why are you having anxiety?"

"You are acting so… odd." Angel raised his eyebrows at her. "You could have at least told me if it was good or bad."

Buffy shook her head with a hint of a smile playing on her lips as she walked into the closet. Angel took a step closer to the closet, wondering what she was doing, she came back out with a white box that looked similar to the boxes she had given the kids their adoption papers in. She silently handed him the box. "I would rather show you."

Angel looked at her confused for a moment, before removing the top of the box. Once he saw the contents, he looked up at her, still confused. He was fully aware of what he was holding in his hands, he was a doctor after all, but it wasn't quite registering in his brain.

Buffy shrugged with a smile. "How do you feel about making the walk-in closet into a nursery?"

Angel slowly walked over to the bed, never taking his eyes off of the lab reports in his hand, sitting down he almost missed the bed and feel on the floor but he caught himself. After several long moments of silence, he finally looked back up at his fiancé. "You're… you're pregnant?"

Buffy nodded. "I know we have technically only been back together a few weeks but…"

"You're pregnant." Angel repeated. "It's so soon."

"I know." Buffy agreed. "And I know this is a lot to take in. I mean, we just got back together, we got engaged and we are adopting four kids, so this is just adding more…"

"No." Angel interrupted her. "I mean, it's so soon… how can you already tell you're pregnant?"

"Oh." Buffy realized what he meant. "Well, I was already showing signs so the doctor wanted to draw my blood to see if she was right. She said sometimes you can tell at three weeks along. Which, we think I am… three weeks, that is."

"You have only been here…" Angel suddenly grinned and nodded. "That first night."

Buffy nodded. "We didn't use protection the first time that night…"

"I know." Angel gently took her hand, pulling her down onto the bed beside her. "We are going to have five kids!"

"Five kids." Buffy nodded, then turned to look at Angel. "There is something else though…"

"Don't tell me its twins!" Angel exclaimed, he knew it wasn't possible to tell if it was twins at this point in the pregnancy but his mind was so blown that he couldn't remember any of his training and schooling.

"No." Buffy chuckled, at least she hoped it wasn't twins! "I just have to be super careful because I have a higher chance of a miscarriage."

"Why would you have a higher chance…?"

Buffy sighed, squeezing his hands lightly. "I have a 25% chance of a miscarriage because… I have already had one before."

"What do you mean?" Angel questions, searching her eyes for an answer. He didn't want to believe that she was pregnant by someone else at some point. In his perfect world, she had never had sex with anyone but him. "When?"

"It was a long time ago." Buffy bit her lip nervously. "I didn't want to tell you, not that I could get ahold of you anyway… but, I knew you had your own life and I didn't want to get in the way of that. We were both so young. It was your dream to be a teacher, I wanted that for you."

"Wait…" Angel shook his head. "Wait, wait, wait. You were pregnant by ME?" He pointed to himself in disbelief. "You should have told me."

"I know, I'm sorry." Buffy whispered. "I just want…"

"I know." He cut her off. "You wanted me to have my dream. A big part of that dream was having a family with you, Buffy."

Buffy smiled sadly. "We have that now."

"We do." Angel nodded with a small smile. "And we are going to make sure that this baby makes it into the world."

Buffy nodded and smiled as Angel placed his hand on her stomach where their unborn baby was growing inside of her. "I don't know if it was a boy or a girl." She whispered, he voice cracked. "I was too soon to know, but I named him Liam Angelus Jr."

"Oh, Love." He whispered, pulling her into his lap. He couldn't believe she had named their little angel after him. Buffy took a deep breath, trying to hold back her tears. She had lost her baby several years ago but it still felt as if it was just happening. She should be happy, she was pregnant with the love of her life's baby now. She still couldn't help but wonder what their first child would have been like. Would he be smart like Angel, or would she have blonde hair like her? "How did it happen?" He asked, smoothing her hair back. He didn't want to upset her more but he wanted to know, he needed to know.

Buffy took a deep breath. "It was my own fault." She whispered. "I was stupid… I was running late for class, my professor already didn't like me, so when I was leaving my dorm I ran down the stairs as fast as I could. I tripped and fell. I blamed myself for a long time, but a friend of mine told me that everything happens for a reason."

"You can't blame yourself." Angel whispered.

Buffy nodded. "To help me cope, my friend talked me into writing everything down… I eventually turned it into my first children's book."

"I'll Always Love you." Angel whispered. Buffy nodded, her first book always brought back a lot of memories and emotions, still to this day she can't read I'll Always Love You without crying. "The book that launched your career. Let's not be sad about the child we lost, and be happy that we will have a beautiful baby soon."

Buffy nodded. That's exactly what she needed to do. She will always love her first baby but she needed to focus on this baby.

"Should we announced to the kids that they will be big brothers and big sisters?" Angel smiled.

Buffy smiled and nodded. "Tomorrow."

0o0o0

Angel walked into the kitchen, placing a kiss on Buffy's lips as she placed some bacon wrapped sausages on a platter, it was Connor's request to have them. "Connor said he is ready to help set up now."

"Meaning he wants these." She smiled, passing Angel the plate.

Angel nodded. "Yeah, that's exactly what it means."

Buffy shook her head and laughed. "Okay, these are done." She motioned towards the plates on the counter. "Send in the troops."

Angel went into the living room and came back with Kendra, Dawn, Billy and Connor following him. They each grabbed a platter and took them to the living room. "So, this is why people have kids…" Angel laughed.

Buffy nodded and laughed. "I hear they also do chores!"

"So we don't have to!" Angel teased.

Buffy laughed again before wrapping her arm around her fiancés waist, then walked into the living room where all of their friends and family were waiting.

"Uh, Buff…" Xander said looking at the new flat screen TV mounted on the wall. "Are we watching the ball drop on TV or do we have to make our own fun?"

Buffy looked to Xander confused, then turned to Angel. "Babe, didn't you hook it up?"

Angel nodded, but it soon turned into a negative. "I mounted it, but then Kendra fell down and needed me." He walked over to the TV, reaching behind it. "It should just need to be plugged in. There it goes."

Buffy smiled. "There Xan, now you don't have to experience withdrawal from the television."

"It's about time." Xander smiled, grabbing a bowl of chips and sitting on the couch. "The ball is about to drop soon!"

Willow raised her eyebrow from where she was sitting beside Oz. "Xander, we still have like 6 hours until the ball drops."

"Well, he never could tell what time it was." Rupert laughed. "As I recall, he was always late for class in high school."

Oz laughed, it was true. Xander didn't seem to make it to any class on time unless he was with Willow or Buffy.

"I resent that!"

"In his defense, I think every single teacher started class early." Angel laughed.

"I resent that!" Xander shouted again without thinking, then thought for a moment. "Or… possibly thank you."

Buffy rolled her eyes playfully, then looked to Angel. Angel nodded at her and left the room, returning shortly after with a tray of drinks for everyone. He passed champagne glasses filled with sparkling wine to the adults and plastic champagne glasses filled with grape juice to the kids and Buffy. "Okay, we have an announcement to make, guys." Buffy smiled.

"We already know you are engaged." Commented Anya, Xander's long-time girlfriend. "You don't need to announce it again."

Oz rolled his eyes, both he and Willow were convinced that Anya was just jealous. She had been dating Xander for years and he has yet to pop the question. It took a long time for the group to come around to Anya, in the beginning they often tried to avoid her until Xander caught on and talk to them about it.

"No…." Buffy said, wrapping her arm around Angel's waist as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "This is something different."

"Buffy and I are excited to announce…" And paused and smiled at Buffy.

Buffy smiled back, then look towards her friends and family. "… that we are expecting a baby."

Anne smiled brightly, everyone else jumped up to congratulate them. Buffy made her way over to her grandma, who was still in her wheelchair and couldn't make it over to her granddaughter. Buffy leaned down and hugged the older woman. "Congratulations, sweetheart."

"Thank you, Grandma." Buffy smiled brightly. "I'm so excited!"

Connor, Dawn, Billy and Kendra looked at each other and started to whisper, after a moment they got up from their place on the floor and left the room.

Buffy noticed the kids leaving the room, she quickly made her way over to Angel, placing her hand on his arm. Once he looked towards her, she nodded her head towards the entrance of the living room. Angel glanced down at the floor where the children were sitting, then followed Buffy out of the living room and up the stairs.

0o0o0

The four kids sat in the girl's bedroom talking. "What are we going to do?" Billy asked.

Buffy gently opened the bedroom door, Angel followed behind her. "Hey, guys. What's up?" Buffy asked softly.

The children suddenly go quiet. Connor was the first one to speak up. "What do we do now?"

Angel and Buffy looked at each other. "We party." Angel offered.

Buffy gave her fiancé a small smile. "We go back downstairs and celebrate the New Year. Who thinks they can beat this old guy…" She playfully pointed to Angel before sitting on the bed beside Kendra. "… to midnight."

"What about after the New Year?" Billy asked quietly.

"We sleep in until noon because we stayed up so late." Angel laughed, sitting down on the desk chair near Connor and Billy's new bunk beds.

"No." Dawn shook her head. "After the holidays."

Buffy gave the four children a confused look. They knew they had to go back to school, they had been talking about it all week. She knew they weren't excited about going back.

Kendra sighed and whispered. "Do you still want us? Now that you are going to have a baby?"

Buffy looked to Angel with a sad and confused expression. "Of course we do, silly."

"Why would you think we don't want you?" Angel asked.

All the kids looked down, Kendra shrugged her shoulders. "If you have your own baby then you don't need us."

"We don't need you." Buffy spoke softly, smoothing her hair back. Buffy has spent a half hour helping Kendra with her hair, the young girl had told her that she was so sick of always wearing her hair up because it was so big and curly. Buffy searched several stores to find a hair product that would work on her hair. Kendra was finally happy with how her hair looked. "We want you."

"You ARE our kids." Angel gave them a pointed look. "Having a baby doesn't change that."

Buffy put her arm around Dawn. "I fell in love with you guys the second I saw you, next week we make the adoption official. Nothing is going to stop that."

Angel nodded. "Soon you will all have the last name Angelus, and we couldn't be any more excited."

"Really?" Billy asked.

Buffy nodded. "And we will butt heads and fight and you guys will complain that we are controlling and tell us how much you hate us, because that's what kids do to their parents."

"We would never do that." Dawn said quietly with a small smile.

"Oh, of course you will!" Angel smiled. "Life isn't always happy and families don't always get along."

"But, we are a family." Buffy smiled, placing a kiss on Dawn's head. "…and we will always love you."

Connor smiled and nodded. "Cool."

"Now, come on." Angel nodded towards the door. "We better get back downstairs before Xander and Olivia eat all the food."

0o0o0

Six Years Later…

"Kids!" Buffy called from her place at the kitchen island, she finished putting the last item in the brown bag and placed it on the edge of the counter with the other five bags. "Daddy!" She smiled at the sound of feet running towards the kitchen.

Angel walked quickly out of his bedroom, joining the end of the line of his children hurrying down stairs, as he buttoned his shirt cuff. As soon as he buttoned his sleeve, he quickly reached down to grab his daughter that was trailing behind the rest of her siblings. Making their way into the kitchen, each child grabbed a bag sitting on the counter. Angel grabbed one, handing it to his daughter before grabbing a second one and giving a quick kiss to his wife.

"Okay, don't forget you have to take Connor to football practice tonight, and drop Billy off at his track meet." Buffy said as the kids rushed around the kitchen grabbing the pancakes and bagels that were on the table. "Oh, and Connor and Billy…" The boys looked back at her. "There is money in your bags to buy lunch too." Both boys smiled, they could eat a lot and always complained they never had enough food. She would pack healthy food in their lunches and give them money to buy whatever unhealthy food they were selling at school. She turned back to her husband. "I am dropping Dawn off at cheerleading and Kendra off at her swim practice." Angel handed his daughter a plain pancake as he held her on his hip. She didn't like any kind of syrup on her pancakes or a big fan of sweets at all, he didn't know where she got that from. Her mother was a master baker and her father was the master eater of sweets. "I am going to take Annie to kindergarten today." Buffy held her hands out to take their daughter, Angel placed a kiss on the small child's blonde hair before handing her over to Buffy. "I have a meeting with my editor this afternoon and then I am meeting with Amy about the illustrations for the book…" Buffy said more to herself. "Willow, Oz, Olivia and Danny are coming over tonight." The blonde turned her head to look at her daughter who was excited to hear that Danny was coming over. Shortly after Buffy had found out she was pregnant with Annie, Willow had found out she was also pregnant. Annie and Danny loved to play together, they were attached at the hip when they were together. Willow was convinced that the two five year olds would end up getting married.

Once Buffy had Anne, Angel grabbed a plain pancake for himself. "I have an appointment this morning but I will be there for your appointment and then we can grab lunch."

Buffy nodded to let her husband know that was fine. "Oh, and Connor wants to go over to Justine's house after school, don't let him talk you into thinking I said yes." She point out. "I want them here where someone can keep an eye on them, her parents aren't going to be home."

Angel nodded. "Got it." Connor had been spending a lot of time with his girlfriend lately and he was at the age that Buffy and Angel were when they first had sex, so they wanted to keep an eye on them. Connor had never given them a reason not to trust him but they didn't want to start not trusting him by the arrival of a baby. They didn't need a grandchild and a child that was the same age. "Are you picking my parents up from the airport or am I?"

"Neither." Buffy let out a deep breath. "My mom is going to pick them up and she made up their guest room for them so we don't have to try to shuffle all the kids around."

"Thank you, Joyce!" Angel exclaimed.

Buffy laughed at her husband. "Oh, and my dad said if you happen to get held up with a patient then just let him know and he can pick the boys up."

"Have I told you how much I love your parents?" Angel smiled.

"You may have mentioned it." Buffy teased.

"Mom!" Connor shouted from the living room. "Have you seen my history paper?"

Buffy took another deep breath and called out. "It should be in your backpack already!"

"It's not!" Connor yelled.

Angel shook his head, it was funny how Connor and Billy couldn't seem to keep track of anything while Dawn and Kendra where the complete opposite. "Check your desk!"

Buffy and Angel both looked up towards the ceiling when they heard Connor run up the stairs. Angel smiled at his wife, she look beautiful today even though she had woken up early to make sure everyone's lunch was packed, breakfast was made and the kid's book bags were where they could find them. "I didn't get a chance to tell you how beautiful you look this morning."

Buffy laughed, running her fingers through her hair. "I haven't even showered yet."

"You look beautiful no matter what." He kissed her.

"It's not there!" Connor yelled running down the stairs.

Buffy pulled away from her husband's kiss. "Billy, check your bag for your brothers paper."

Billy looked up at his mom from where he was eating and nodded before leaving the table to check his bag. The two boys had similar tastes in almost everything, which resulted in them getting the same book bag.

"Got it!" Connor shouted.

Buffy pulled her husband closer to her, kissing him again. "You are all going to be late."

Angel looked at the clock on the wall, then to his wife, he took a double take at the clock and suddenly looked panicked. "Let's go!" He shouted to his kids. "Duty calls, Love."

Buffy smiled as he turned to walk away. "Oh, Angel… any news on the expansion?"

Angel nodded. "Xander said it will be done in time."

Buffy let out a relieved sigh, they were transforming the attic into a bedroom for Connor and Billy. The boys were excited because their parents had agreed to let them have a mini fridge in the attic and they were installing a bathroom.

Angel turned back around, making his way back to his wife holding their five year old daughter in her arms. He kissed Buffy then placed a kiss to his daughter's temple. "Love you, Annie." Before kissing Buffy again. "I love you." Then bent down, kissing his wife's stomach. "Love you, little guy. I will see you later."

"Love you too, Daddy." Mother and daughter said at the same time.

The door slammed and the once hectic house was now silent, Buffy looked to her daughter and smiled.

"This house is a mad house in this morning." Buffy turned to see her grandmother walking into the kitchen. She sat down at the table, turning to Buffy.

The blonde simply nodded. "It's only going to get more hectic."

The older woman nodded, she knew it would get crazier in the house as the kids got older. Anne smiled as the little girl that was named after her wiggled to get down from her mother's arms and made her way over to the older woman. "How are you feeling, Buffy?"

Buffy took a deep breath, placing her hand on her protruding belly. "I feel good."

"You know, I was talking to your mother and she offered to allow me to live with her." Anne told her granddaughter as her current youngest great granddaughter climbed into the chair next to her. "You are going to need the extra space for the new baby."

"Grandma, no." Buffy said, making her way over to the table to sit on the other side of the older woman. "We love having you here."

"And I love being here, Sweetie." Anne smiled. "But you need the space."

"Angel converted the walk-in closet to a nursery for Annie, we are going to use it for the baby too." Buffy told her. "And the boys are looking forward to moving into the attic."

"I foresee more children in your future, Buffy." Anne smiled. "You will need the space. You and Angel are still young, you will probably still be having kids when Connor, Billy, Dawn and Kendra move out."

Buffy cringed at the thought of her oldest kids moving out, they were already sixteen years old, they would be graduating from high school soon and going on to college. The past six years with them wasn't nearly enough time, she didn't want to think about them being gone. "We can just convert the basement into a bedroom then.. or the garage, or.. or, building one of those small houses in the backyard because they are never moving out."

Anne laughed, she knew her granddaughter didn't like to talk about her adopted children leaving home. "Sweetheart, I'm moving into your old room at your parent's house, whether you like it or not."

"If that's what you really want." Buffy pouted, watching her youngest daughter play with the half eaten pancakes her older sister left on the table.

"It is." Anne nodded. "Besides, Angel is already talking about another baby after this one is born."

Buffy laughed. "I know! I swear, he wants a soccer team of kids!"

"And you are going to give it to him." Anne smiled knowingly.

Buffy rubbed her stomach, thinking about her amazing husband, their wonderful children and their future children. "Anything he wants."

THE END


End file.
